The Horror Sequel <em>Influencers</em> Could Give Other Streaming Thrillers a Bad Case of FOMO

“This whole affair reeks like a cheap TV movie,” states an opportunistic podcaster during the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an outlandish story he once said he trusted. Yet his description of what’s happening in the movie isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two streaming movies chronicling a woman who worms her way into the lives of social media stars and then murders them seems 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 its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller that should give its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects traveling alone influencer targets, lures them to their doom, and conceals those deaths (for a time) by taking control of their socials. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This lends 2025's Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning writer-director the director picks up with the character CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate their one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and ire.

CW comments to Diane that a person should try stranding a device-obsessed online personality in a place without any devices to see whether they can survive. Is this a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the special treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her version of the events, including the killing of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the curated images that normally attract CW's interest.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears particularly tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's eye-catching outfits.) Although the sequel’s screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between the two women — it still works as a tale of rival investigators, with both women employ fake accounts, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape each other. Of course, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to luxurious locales at little cost, an ability that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating beautiful places to visit, though they were likely less nefarious about it. The vast majority of the movie seems to be filmed in real places, giving it a real-world weight that remains even as many scenes consist of a relatively small cast of people staring at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the James Bond movies look so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, big action and special effects can display a big budget, but simply offering a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy access to impossibly chic contemporary villas; there are movies concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off as much overhead swimming-pool footage. The characters must believably occupy these lush, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently each person — including the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nonetheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a screed targeting the emptiness of online fame. While it is gratifying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is relatively understanding of the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced during supposedly envy-worthy vacations. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will reveal that he’s peddling false masculinity to other doofuses; he resists turning into a caricature the character further. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his true devotion to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not a victim by it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it may occasionally seem that he is acknowledging bits of modern online life without investigating them. This is particularly evident regarding how he brings AI into the story, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers could offer devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide that, with an appropriately wild final act. However, initially, it resembles more a sleek Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations may also be what keeps it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. Our society may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself is still here, for now.