This Thriller Sequel <em>Influencers</em> Could Give Other Streaming Suspense Films a Bad Case of FOMO

“Everything about this stinks like a bad TV movie,” observes a cynical podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest whose bizarre tale he once said he trusted. But his assessment of the events on screen isn’t wrong. Superficially, a pair of streaming movies chronicling a young woman who worms her way into the lives of online influencers before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry yet network-approved weekly TV movie. The wild thing regarding Influencers remains just how superior it proves to be than plenty of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the thriller that should give other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects solo-traveling influencer targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

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

CW remarks to her partner that a person ought to attempt leaving a device-obsessed online personality in a place without any devices and see if they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, but still faces doubt over her version of the events, including the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to boost his profile as half of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, rather than the curated images that normally attract CW’s attention.

Naud remains immensely captivating in her role, a role that appears especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) While the follow-up's focus leans heavily into CW — the first film seemed more balanced between the two women — it still works as a story of rival investigators, with both women employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to pursue or evade one another. Of course, perhaps the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a talent for gaining access to luxurious locales at little cost, a skill which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly resourceful about finding stunning locations to film, though they were likely less nefarious about it. Most of the movie seems to be filmed in real places, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even as numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of people looking at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle that made the James Bond movies look so consistently opulent for decades: Indeed, big action and special effects can show off a big budget, but just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also feels inherently cinematic. This is particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle of creating jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy entry to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; there are movies about lifeguards which don't feature this much aerial pool video. The characters have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently everyone — even the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nonetheless devotes much time under the light of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a screed against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. Though it is gratifying to watch CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment lets us to wish she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced during supposedly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob in action will reveal that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited of it.

The other side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, an intriguing development that lacks the psychological edge it should have. The pluralized title of Influencers might give devotees of the original expectations of an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie ultimately delivers that, with a suitably wild final act. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places may also be what prevents it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, for now.