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

“This whole affair stinks of a cheap made-for-TV,” observes an opportunistic commentator during the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an bizarre tale he once claimed he believed. But his description of what’s happening in the movie isn't inaccurate. Superficially, a pair of films on demand about a woman who worms her way into the worlds of social media stars and then murders them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is how much better it proves to be compared to much of its competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the thriller that should give its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, entices them to their doom, and covers up those deaths (for a time) by seizing control of their online accounts. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers some early mystery, as returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder picks up with CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking the couple’s one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that someone should try leaving a device-obsessed influencer somewhere with no technology and see if they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment given to a single fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ chronological position. The story revisits Madison, who has been exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her version of what happened, including the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to boost his profile as part of a right-wing-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the curated images that normally capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in the part, which seems particularly tailor-made for her talents. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) While the follow-up's focus leans heavily into CW — the first film seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a story of dueling investigators, as Madison and CW employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape each other. Then again, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Influencers have a knack for getting to explore posh places without paying much, an ability that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers appear equally resourceful in locating stunning locations to film, though they were likely less nefarious in their methods. The vast majority of the movie seems to be filmed in real places, providing it an authentic gravity that lingers even when many scenes consist of a handful of actors of people staring at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise look so persistently lavish over the years: Yes, explosive action and special effects can display large spending, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts to viewers also feels deeply filmic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a story so rooted in the coexisting surface-level allure and desperate hustle of creating envy-inducing online content.

Every character visiting Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies about lifeguards which don't feature as much aerial pool footage. The characters have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — even the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed targeting the vacuousness of online fame. While it can be gratifying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment lets us to hope she evades capture, the filmmaker is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt while on supposedly dream getaways. In this film, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he is selling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character further. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited of it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it can sometimes appear as if he is acknowledging bits of modern online life without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it deserves. The pluralized title of Influencers could offer fans of the first movie expectations of an Aliens-style escalation, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. But before that, it resembles more a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than a frenzied, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. The world might be saturated with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, at least for now.