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

“This whole affair reeks of a bad made-for-TV,” remarks an opportunistic commentator during the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way of a guest whose bizarre tale he previously claimed he believed. Yet his description of what’s happening on screen isn’t wrong. Superficially, a pair of films on demand about a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of social media stars and then murders them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry yet network-approved Movie of the Week. The wild thing about Influencers is how much better it proves to be than plenty of the competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It is precisely the thriller capable of giving its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, lures them to their deaths, and conceals those deaths (for a time) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers some early ambiguity, when returning writer-director the director picks up with the character CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking their one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and ire.

CW remarks to her partner that someone ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted influencer somewhere with no technology and see if they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded a single fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, yet still encounters doubt regarding her recounting of what happened, which includes 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 conservative-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the curated images that typically attract CW's interest.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems especially custom-fit for her talents. (She also designed CW's striking wardrobe.) While the follow-up's focus tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a tale of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape each other. Then again, maybe the vast resources aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to posh places without paying much, an ability that CW echoes with her more overt scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers appear equally resourceful in locating stunning locations to film, although they were presumably less nefarious about it. The vast majority of the film appears to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even when many scenes consist of a relatively small cast of characters staring at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic which allowed the James Bond movies look so consistently opulent for decades: Yes, big action and special effects can show off large spending, but just providing a travelogue of sorts for the audience also seems deeply filmic. It’s also especially fitting for a narrative so rooted in the coexisting superficial glamour and desperate hustle involved in producing jealousy-worthy online content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy entry to impossibly chic modern bungalows; there are movies about lifeguards which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool video. The characters have to convincingly occupy these luxurious, remote places to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — even the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a screed against the emptiness of online fame. While it is gratifying to watch CW manipulate various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment lets us to wish she evades capture, the filmmaker is somewhat sympathetic to the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling false masculinity to other doofuses; he resists turning into a caricature the character further. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his true devotion to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not a victim of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it can sometimes appear that he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them. This is especially true of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychological edge it deserves. The retitled sequel for the film might give devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale escalation, and the film ultimately delivers that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a sleek Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what prevents it from coming across like utter horror. Our society may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, at least for now.