The Horror Follow-Up <em>Influencers</em> Could Give Competing Digital Thrillers a Bad Case of FOMO

“Everything about this reeks like a cheap made-for-TV,” remarks a cynical commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an outlandish story he previously claimed he believed. Yet his description of what’s happening in the movie isn’t wrong. Superficially, two films on demand about a young woman who worms her way into the worlds of social media stars and then murders them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but network-approved Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers remains how much better it is compared to much of the competition, irrespective of screen size. It is precisely the thriller that should give its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects solo-traveling social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and conceals those deaths (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The movie concludes (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 on her.

This lends 2025's Influencers some early mystery, when returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking the couple’s first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and anger.

CW comments to her partner that someone ought to attempt stranding a device-obsessed online personality in a place with no technology and see whether they can make it. Is this an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, now exonerated for carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion over her recounting of what happened, which includes the killing of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that normally attract CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, a role that appears 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 story of dueling amateur detectives, with both women both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to pursue or evade each other. Of course, perhaps the unlimited budget aren't needed. Online personalities possess a talent for getting to explore posh places without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating beautiful places to film, although they were likely less nefarious about it. Most of the film seems to be shot on location, giving it a real-world weight that remains even as many scenes involve a handful of actors of people staring at digital devices.

It’s the same principle that made the Bond franchise appear so consistently opulent for decades: Yes, big action and special effects can display large spending, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems deeply filmic. This is especially fitting for a narrative so rooted in the coexisting superficial glamour and try-hard grind involved in producing envy-inducing digital content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies about lifeguards which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool footage. The characters have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — including the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time under the light of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant against the emptiness of online fame. Though it is satisfying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to hope she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he tapped into the isolation Madison experienced during supposedly dream getaways. Here, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob in action will make it clear that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists caricaturing the character further. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his genuine loyalty to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not someone exploited of it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true regarding how he brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it deserves. The pluralized title of Influencers might give fans of the first movie hope for an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the movie ultimately delivers exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than an frenzied, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from coming across like utter horror. The world might be saturated with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself remains present, for now.