A Killer Horror Sequel That's Better Than The Original Is Now Streaming On Shudder

The last decade has seen an increase in horror films skewering the world of online fame — as influencers and content creators become a more common line of work, so too have movies looking to take "these types" down a notch. Kurtis David Harder's "Influencer" from 2022 was one of the best films to explore the landscape, with the story about a parasocial killer intersecting with an influencer on a backpacking trip from Hell becoming a surprise hit for Shudder. Now, three years later, Harder has returned with "Influencers," a sequel with sharper claws and a firm grasp on what people loved so much about the first one. Primarily, the audience loved Cassandra Naud's villainous character, CW, and wanted to see her continue to obliterate those who dared cross her. Together, they shape a follow-up that blends familiar beats with wild new shifts, creating a continuation that mutates the original horror story into the rare sequel that improves upon what came before it.

Right off the bat, "Influencers" signals its nastier ambitions. A beautiful young woman dies by suicide in an opulent villa after receiving crushing news, but viewers of the first film should already know that things are probably not what they seem. If this is the return of CW, there's no way she wasn't involved with this woman's death. Sure, Harder will continue examining themes of identity, vanity, and digital toxicity — but there's no need to delay the bloodshed. After CW and her photographer partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) are bumped from their hotel room in favor of a popular British influencer named Charlotte ("Barbarian" breakout star Georgina Campbell), old impulses rise to the surface, and "Influencers" brings content creator carnage with glee.

Things shift when CW and Diane cross paths with Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), a manosphere grifter with an insufferable conservative girlfriend named Ariana (Veronica Long), all the while Madison (Emily Tennant) — the survivor from the first film — returns hellbent on bringing CW down. This is an instance of the final girl making a return to take down the slasher that nearly ended her life in the film before, but instead of a masked monster, the twisted killer is the breathtakingly gorgeous Cassandra Naud, who makes an absolute feast out of her role.

Naud's performance remains the franchise's most potent asset. She continues to tread a razor-thin line, delivering a deranged performance without feeling cartoonish, seductive without losing her menace, and pitiable without inviting full sympathy. Her unpredictability is exactly what makes CW engrossing; one moment you're horrified by her and the next you're almost rooting for her, and Harder's script leans into that dissonance. Emily Tennant's Madison also gets more dimension here, evolving from an easy-to-resent content creator into a determined investigator in her own right.

But the larger cast allows Harder to expand the commentary about parasocial online relationships, digging deeper into the legitimate dangers of alt-right freaks who feel entitled to spew hatred into microphones every week. And the film rightfully refuses to present these bigoted losers as anything more than that, without ever teetering over the line into parody. These people are genuine cancers to society, and they're having the days they deserve. And like the film before it, "Influencers" does it all while mimicking the intoxicating travelogue of decadence seen on the social feeds rotting all of our collective brains, the aestheticized cinematography cloaking the ugliness from within.

Horror is no stranger to turning surprise hits into massive franchises, and if Harder wanted, he could absolutely continue making films in this world until the TikTok algorithm gains sentience and brings about the end of humanity, because it just keeps getting weirder with every scroll of the timeline. As is the case with the first film, there's some willing suspension of disbelief required of the audience regarding how CW is continually able to get away with her spree, but there's an argument to be made that defying plausibility is the only way actual influencers gain popularity in the first place. The heightened tone turns those gaps in logic into part of the fun, and Harder seems less concerned with realism than with probing the grotesque extremes of internet celebrity and letting CW stalk the worst offenders with unhinged precision. Good god, it's fun to watch her let loose.

It would have been easy for "Influencers" to just retread what worked the first go-around, but by embracing the ridiculousness inherent in internet culture and leaning into the camp sensibilities popping through the first film, the sequel is such a success that it elevates the original by existing. By letting CW go buckwild and stacking the cast with unsuspecting victims for her to toy with (loved seeing "Letterkenny" star Dylan Playfair return to his horror roots), Harder confirms that he's one of the most exciting independent voices in the genre.

"Influencers" is captivating from start to finish. It doubles down on everything that made the first movie compelling—its glamorous surfaces, its sharp sense of digital-era dread, and its unforgettable antagonist. If the franchise continues, it'll be because Naud's CW has more havoc to wreak, and based on this film, that would be no bad thing

"Influencer" and "Influencers" are available to stream on Shudder.