This Thriller Sequel <em>Influencers</em> Is Set to Give Competing Streaming Suspense Films a Bad Case of FOMO

“This whole affair reeks of a cheap TV movie,” remarks an opportunistic podcaster midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, his tone is manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee with an bizarre tale he previously claimed he believed. But his assessment of what’s happening in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, a pair of streaming movies chronicling a woman who worms her way into the lives of social media stars and then murders them feels like a modern-day version of a lurid yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers remains how much better it proves to be compared to much of its competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects solo-traveling influencer targets, lures them to their doom, and conceals those murders (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their online accounts. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers some early ambiguity, when returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with the character CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate the couple’s first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and anger.

CW comments to her partner that someone should try stranding a phone-addicted influencer in a place with no technology to see if they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ chronological position. The story revisits Madison, now exonerated for committing CW's offenses, but still faces doubt regarding her recounting of the events, including the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as half of a conservative-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that typically attract CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in her role, which seems especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) While the sequel’s screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still works as a story of dueling investigators, with both women employ fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue or evade each other. Of course, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Influencers have a knack for getting to explore luxurious locales without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating beautiful places to film, although they were likely less nefarious in their methods. Most of the movie seems to be shot on location, providing it an authentic gravity that lingers even as numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of people looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic which allowed the James Bond movies appear so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, big action and special effects can display a big budget, however just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems deeply filmic. This is particularly appropriate for a story so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the first film, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards that don’t show off as much aerial pool footage. The characters have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how often everyone — even the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nonetheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant against the emptiness of the influencer industry. While it is satisfying to watch CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment lets us to wish she evades capture, Harder is relatively understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the isolation Madison felt while on ostensibly dream getaways. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling false masculinity to other doofuses; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his genuine loyalty to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it can sometimes appear that he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them. This is especially true of the way he brings AI into the plot, an intriguing development that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel for the film might give devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the film ultimately delivers exactly that, with an appropriately wild final act. However, initially, it’s more like a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than a frenzied, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places might also be what keeps it from coming across like utter horror. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, for now.