The Thriller Follow-Up <em>Influencers</em> Will Give Other Streaming Thrillers a Bad Case of FOMO

“This whole affair reeks of a cheap made-for-TV,” states a cynical podcaster midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, his tone is manipulatively dismissive of a guest whose outlandish story he previously said he trusted. But his assessment of the events on screen isn’t wrong. On its face, two films on demand about a young woman who worms her way into the lives of online influencers before killing them seems like a modern-day version of a lurid but cable-ready Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers remains how much better it is than plenty of its competition, regardless of screen size. It’s the kind of suspense film capable of giving other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone influencer targets, entices them to their doom, and conceals those deaths (for a time) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers some early mystery, as returning filmmaker the director resumes with the character CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking the couple’s first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that a person ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted influencer in a place without any devices to see if they can survive. Is this an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the preferential treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, now cleared of carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters suspicion over her recounting of the events, including the murder of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that normally attract CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, a role that appears particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She even created CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) Although the follow-up's screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between the two women — it still functions as a story of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fake accounts, social media surveillance, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape each other. Then again, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to posh places at little cost, a skill that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly resourceful in locating stunning locations to film, although they were presumably more legitimate about it. The vast majority of the film seems to be filmed in real places, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even when many scenes consist of a relatively small cast of characters staring at digital devices.

It follows the same logic which allowed the Bond franchise appear so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, big action and visual effects can show off large spending, but just providing a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems deeply filmic. It’s also especially fitting for a story so rooted in the coexisting superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy online content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the first film, seem to have entry to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off this much overhead swimming-pool video. These individuals have to convincingly inhabit these luxurious, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nevertheless spends plenty of time under the light of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a rant targeting the emptiness of the influencer industry. Though it can be gratifying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to wish she evades capture, the filmmaker is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced during ostensibly dream getaways. In this film, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists caricaturing the character further. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his true devotion to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it can sometimes appear as if he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true regarding how he brings AI into the plot, an intriguing development that lacks the psychological edge it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers could offer devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably wild final act. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than a frenzied, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations may 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 reality itself is still here, at least for now.