Kurtis David Harder’s 2022 horror film “Influencer” was a surprisingly effective thriller, a sort of Patricia Highsmith commentary on the social media era. Like the famous story of James Cameron pitching “Aliens” by adding a dollar sign to the original title, Harder is back with a sequel that promises to be bigger, badder, and bitchier. Still, this talented writer/director avoids the common horror sequel problem of trying just loudly to repeat what worked the first time. Almost with a wink and a nod, he sets up his vicious “Influencers” as precisely that: opening with an extended prologue that nearly promises a different movie, one that follows the template of the first. Then he drops the floor out (and his opening credits) half an hour into the movie and starts the rollercoaster. Strap in.
So much of “Influencers” works as well as it does because of Harder’s cleverly unpredictable and often remarkably funny script, so spoilers will be avoided more than usual. It’s not too much of a spoiler to reveal that the film opens with a healthy CW (Cassandra Naud, even better here than in the first), somehow rescued from the deserted isle on which she was stranded at the end of the last film, and looking happily in love. She’s celebrating an anniversary in a gorgeous stretch of French countryside with her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar). When they arrive at a boutique hotel and discover that a travel influencer named Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) has taken their fancier room, CW gets that look in her eye: She’s found a new target.
“Girls like that are single-handedly ruining the next generation of women,” says CW. “Someone should teach them a lesson.” If “Influencer” only flirted with commentary on how social currency has little actual value, especially when it’s facing off with a true sociopath, “Influencers” is more ambitious in its scope, bringing in concepts like the toxic masculinity that flourishes virtually, true crime online mobs, and how tech disguises as much as it reveals. After the prologue, Harder digs into the meat of his story, and it’s not really a spoiler to say that Madison (Emily Tennant) returns, seeking vengeance on the woman who left her for dead in the first film. Harder moves his characters around deftly, shifting focus in a way that not only amplifies twists but also heightens tension as he builds to an insanely violent, hysterical, and unforgettable climax.
“Influencers” is a more vicious, targeted film than the original, but it also has a stunning streak of truly dark humor that’s almost Coen-esque in its slapstick bloodshed. There’s a great early beat in which CW sees a woman ignoring the beautiful scenery around her as she appears to livestream instead of actually experiencing it, and it truly looks for a moment like the villain of this now-franchise is just going to murder her in public. As CW and Madison’s parallel arcs get closer and closer, Harder turns the heat up to a boil and then pays it off with an incredible finale that produces gasps and laughs at the same time.
It helps a great deal that “Influencers” looks spectacular. Working with D.P. David Schuurman, Harder actually shot on location in France and Thailand; that might sound obvious, but so many modern TV series and films undervalue actually going to the place where their story is set (Canada typically steps in). This movie couldn’t have cost much, but it looks fantastic, reveling in how ugly behavior can still unfold in beautiful places and truly reminding one how often visual language is an afterthought in streaming originals.
“Influencers” is a film about broken people, the kind who have very different online personas and relationships than they do in real life, and how that reality is becoming increasingly untenable. It ends with what could be considered a cliffhanger, which might be regarded as disappointing, but this one is fun enough that the promise of another film is welcome.
