The Thriller Follow-Up <em>Influencers</em> Could Give Other Streaming Thrillers Serious FOMO

“Everything about this reeks like a bad made-for-TV,” observes an opportunistic commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee whose bizarre tale he once claimed he believed. Yet his description of what’s happening on screen isn't inaccurate. On its face, a pair of streaming movies chronicling a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of social media stars before killing them feels like a modern-day version of a tawdry but cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect about Influencers remains just how superior it proves to be than plenty of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film that should give its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone social media targets, lures them to their doom, and conceals those deaths (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their socials. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This lends 2025's Influencers a degree of ambiguity, when returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder resumes with CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate their one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that someone ought to attempt stranding a device-obsessed online personality somewhere with no technology and see whether they can make it. Is this an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment afforded one fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, now cleared of committing CW’s crimes, yet still encounters doubt regarding her version of the events, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to boost his profile as half of a conservative-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, rather than the curated images that typically attract CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in her role, a role that appears particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She also designed CW's striking wardrobe.) While the follow-up's screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the first film felt more equally divided between the two women — it still functions as a tale of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to chase or evade one another. Of course, maybe the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to luxurious locales without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly resourceful in locating stunning locations to film, although they were likely more legitimate about it. Most of the movie seems to be filmed in real places, providing it a real-world weight that remains even as many scenes consist of a relatively small cast of characters staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the James Bond movies appear so persistently lavish for decades: Yes, big action and visual effects can display large spending, but just providing a travelogue of sorts for the audience also feels inherently cinematic. It’s also especially fitting for a narrative so rooted in the coexisting superficial glamour and desperate hustle involved in producing envy-inducing digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature as much aerial pool video. The characters have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how often each person — even the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless devotes much time in the glow of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a screed targeting the emptiness of the influencer industry. Though it is satisfying to watch CW manipulate various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he keyed into the isolation Madison felt during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he is selling false masculinity to other doofuses; he avoids caricaturing the character further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his true devotion to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited of it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is particularly evident of the way he brings AI into the story, a fascinating turn which misses the psychological edge it should have. The retitled sequel for the film could offer devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide that, with an appropriately wild final act. However, initially, it’s more like a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what prevents it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, at least for now.