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

“Everything about this stinks like a bad TV movie,” observes a cynical podcaster during the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee whose outlandish story he previously said he trusted. Yet his description of the events in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, two films on demand chronicling a young woman who worms her way into the worlds of online influencers and then murders them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid but network-approved Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers remains how much better it proves to be than plenty of its competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the thriller that should give its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects solo-traveling social media targets, lures them to their doom, and covers up those murders (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, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This lends 2025's Influencers some early mystery, when returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking the couple’s first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and anger.

CW comments to Diane that a person ought to attempt leaving a device-obsessed influencer somewhere without any devices to see whether they can survive. Is this an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, now exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, yet still encounters doubt regarding her recounting of what happened, including the murder of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to boost his profile as part of a conservative-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, rather than the curated images that normally capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears especially custom-fit to her strengths. (She also designed CW's striking wardrobe.) Although the follow-up's screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a tale of dueling amateur detectives, with both women both use fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and an apparently unlimited travel budget to pursue and/or escape each other. Then again, maybe the vast resources aren't needed. Influencers have a knack for getting to explore luxurious locales without paying much, an ability that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating beautiful places to film, although they were presumably more legitimate about it. Most of the film seems to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even as 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 appear so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, explosive action and visual effects can display large spending, however just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems inherently cinematic. This is especially fitting for a story so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy entry to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature this much aerial pool footage. The characters have to convincingly occupy these luxurious, far-flung locations to highlight the uneasy irony of how often each person — even the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nonetheless spends plenty of time under the light of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a rant targeting the emptiness of online fame. Though it is gratifying to see CW manipulate various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification allows us to hope she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the isolation Madison felt while on supposedly envy-worthy vacations. Here, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling 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 true devotion to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited by 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 brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychological edge it should have. The pluralized title for the film might give devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. The world might be saturated with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, for now.