The final decade has seen a rise in horror movies skewering the world of on-line fame — as influencers and content material creators turn out to be a extra frequent line of labor, so too have films trying to take “these varieties” down a notch. Kurtis David Tougher’s “Influencer” from 2022 was top-of-the-line movies to discover the panorama, with the story a few parasocial killer intersecting with an influencer on a backpacking journey from Hell changing into a shock hit for Shudder. Now, three years later, Tougher has returned with “Influencers,” a sequel with sharper claws and a agency grasp on what folks beloved a lot in regards to the first one. Primarily, the viewers beloved Cassandra Naud’s villainous character, CW, and wished to see her proceed to obliterate those that dared cross her. Collectively, they form a follow-up that blends acquainted beats with wild new shifts, making a continuation that mutates the unique horror story into the uncommon sequel that improves upon what got here earlier than it.
Proper off the bat, “Influencers” indicators its nastier ambitions. A fantastic younger lady dies by suicide in an opulent villa after receiving crushing information, however viewers of the primary movie ought to already know that issues are in all probability not what they appear. If that is the return of CW, there is no means she wasn’t concerned with this lady’s demise. Certain, Tougher will proceed inspecting themes of identification, self-importance, and digital toxicity — however there is no must delay the bloodshed. After CW and her photographer companion Diane (Lisa Delamar) are bumped from their resort room in favor of a well-liked British influencer named Charlotte (“Barbarian” breakout star Georgina Campbell), outdated impulses rise to the floor, and “Influencers” brings content material creator carnage with glee.
Horror followers will like, comply with, subscribe, and die for Influencers
Issues shift when CW and Diane cross paths with Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), a manosphere grifter with an unbearable conservative girlfriend named Ariana (Veronica Lengthy), all of the whereas Madison (Emily Tennant) — the survivor from the primary movie — returns hellbent on bringing CW down. That is an occasion of the ultimate woman making a return to take down the slasher that just about ended her life within the movie earlier than, however as a substitute of a masked monster, the twisted killer is the breathtakingly beautiful Cassandra Naud, who makes an absolute feast out of her function.
Naud’s efficiency stays the franchise’s most potent asset. She continues to tread a razor-thin line, delivering a deranged efficiency with out feeling cartoonish, seductive with out dropping her menace, and pitiable with out inviting full sympathy. Her unpredictability is strictly what makes CW engrossing; one second you are horrified by her and the subsequent you are virtually rooting for her, and Tougher’s script leans into that dissonance. Emily Tennant’s Madison additionally will get extra dimension right here, evolving from an easy-to-resent content material creator right into a decided investigator in her personal proper.
However the bigger solid permits Tougher to broaden the commentary about parasocial on-line relationships, digging deeper into the professional risks of alt-right freaks who really feel entitled to spew hatred into microphones each week. And the movie rightfully refuses to current these bigoted losers as something greater than that, with out ever teetering over the road into parody. These persons are real cancers to society, and so they’re having the times they deserve. And just like the movie earlier than it, “Influencers” does all of it whereas mimicking the intoxicating travelogue of decadence seen on the social feeds rotting all of our collective brains, the aestheticized cinematography cloaking the ugliness from inside.
Influencers proves there’s room for a full franchise
Horror isn’t any stranger to turning shock hits into huge franchises, and if Tougher wished, he might completely proceed making movies on this world till the TikTok algorithm positive factors sentience and brings in regards to the finish of humanity, as a result of it simply retains getting weirder with each scroll of the timeline. As is the case with the primary movie, there’s some keen suspension of disbelief required of the viewers relating to how CW is regularly in a position to get away together with her spree, however there’s an argument to be made that defying plausibility is the one means precise influencers achieve recognition within the first place. The heightened tone turns these gaps in logic into a part of the enjoyable, and Tougher appears much less involved with realism than with probing the grotesque extremes of web movie star and letting CW stalk the worst offenders with unhinged precision. Good god, it is enjoyable to look at her let unfastened.
It could have been simple for “Influencers” to simply retread what labored the primary go-around, however by embracing the ridiculousness inherent in web tradition and leaning into the camp sensibilities popping by way of the primary movie, the sequel is so successful that it elevates the unique by present. By letting CW go buckwild and stacking the solid with unsuspecting victims for her to toy with (beloved seeing “Letterkenny” star Dylan Playfair return to his horror roots), Tougher confirms that he is some of the thrilling impartial voices within the style.
“Influencers” is charming from begin to end. It doubles down on every thing that made the primary film compelling—its glamorous surfaces, its sharp sense of digital-era dread, and its unforgettable antagonist. If the franchise continues, it’s going to be as a result of Naud’s CW has extra havoc to wreak, and based mostly on this movie, that will be no unhealthy factor
“Influencer” and “Influencers” can be found to stream on Shudder.
