This Horror Follow-Up <em>Influencers</em> Could Give Competing Digital Suspense Films a Bad Case of FOMO

“Everything about this smells like a bad TV movie,” remarks an opportunistic podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive of a guest whose bizarre tale he once said he trusted. But his assessment of the events in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, two streaming movies 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 cable-ready weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers remains just how superior it is than plenty of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the suspense film capable of giving its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses traveling alone influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and covers up those murders (at least temporarily) by taking control of their socials. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers some early ambiguity, when returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder resumes with CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that a person ought to attempt stranding a device-obsessed online personality somewhere without any devices to see if they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, now cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion regarding her recounting of what happened, including the murder of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to juice his career as half of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the curated images that normally capture CW's interest.

Naud remains immensely captivating in her role, which seems especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's striking wardrobe.) While the sequel’s screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the first film seemed more balanced between the two women — it still works as a story of rival investigators, with both women both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and an apparently unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape each other. Of course, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a talent for gaining access to luxurious locales at little cost, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating stunning locations to film, though they were presumably less nefarious about it. Most of the film appears to be filmed in real places, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even as many scenes consist of a relatively small cast of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent for decades: Indeed, explosive action and visual effects can show off large spending, however just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems deeply filmic. It’s also especially fitting for a story so rooted in the coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind involved in producing jealousy-worthy online content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy access to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist concerning beach rescuers which don't feature as much aerial pool video. These individuals have to convincingly inhabit these luxurious, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — even the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless spends plenty of time under the light of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant targeting the emptiness of online fame. Though it is satisfying to see CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment lets us to wish she evades capture, the filmmaker is relatively understanding of the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced during supposedly dream getaways. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character. He even grants 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 a victim by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it can sometimes appear as if he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them. This is particularly evident regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychological edge it deserves. The pluralized title for the film might give devotees of the original expectations of an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a polished Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places might also be what prevents it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. Our society might be saturated with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, for now.