The Horror Sequel <em>Influencers</em> Is Set to Give Other Streaming Suspense Films a Bad Case of FOMO

“Everything about this stinks of a bad made-for-TV,” remarks a cynical podcaster midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee with an outlandish story he once claimed he believed. But his assessment of what’s happening in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, two streaming movies about a woman who insinuates herself into the lives of online influencers and then murders them seems like a modern-day version of a lurid but network-approved Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers remains how much better it proves to be compared to much of its competition, irrespective of screen size. It is precisely the suspense film capable of giving its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses traveling alone social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (for a time) by taking control of their online accounts. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers a degree of ambiguity, when returning writer-director the director picks up with 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 eye and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that someone should try leaving a device-obsessed online personality somewhere with no technology to see if they can make it. Is this an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded a single fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, who has been cleared of committing CW’s crimes, but still faces doubt over her version of the events, including the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the curated images that normally attract CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in her role, a role that appears especially tailor-made for her talents. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) Although the sequel’s focus leans heavily into CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a story of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue or evade each other. Then again, maybe the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to posh places without paying much, an ability that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally resourceful in locating beautiful places to film, though they were likely less nefarious in their methods. Most of the film appears to be shot on location, giving it a real-world weight that remains even as many scenes consist of a relatively small cast of people looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, big action and special effects can display large spending, however just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a narrative so rooted in the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle involved in producing jealousy-worthy online content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the first film, seem to have access to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist concerning beach rescuers which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool video. These individuals must believably occupy these luxurious, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently each person — including the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless 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 screed against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. Though it can be gratifying to see CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment lets us to hope she evades capture, the filmmaker is relatively understanding of the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he keyed into the loneliness Madison experienced during ostensibly dream getaways. Here, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob in action will make it clear that he’s peddling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists caricaturing the character. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not someone exploited by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, an intriguing development that lacks the psychosexual kick it deserves. The pluralized title of Influencers could offer devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. But before that, it resembles more a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a frenzied, tech-addled 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 may be overrun with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself is still here, for now.