INFLUENCERS

***

Directed by Kurtis David Harder.

Starring Cassandra Naud, Emily Tennant, Jonathan Whitesell.

Thriller, US, 110 Minutes.

Reviewed as part of FrightFest 2025 - UK Premiere

A word of mouth hit is a hard thing to come by these days, so it was a genuine and pleasant surprise to see Kurtis David Harder's 2023 film INFLUENCER become exactly that. Breaking out of the streaming ghetto to find an appreciative audience, perhaps drawn to the shimmering, widescreen cinematography that made the most of its spectacular Thailand locations. Also adding to the appeal were a bunch of smartly written characters, humorously satirising the ego-driven industry at the heart of the film.  All together, INFLUENCER was a fun watch, especially when the audience realised just how manipulative and cold-blooded the mysterious character of CW actually was. Mysterious in no small part due to the film's refusal to give any hint of backstory, CW made for a memorable antagonist.

Set one year after the first film, INFLUENCERS catches up with CW now relocated in Paris, without explanation after the first film’s conclusion.  Deeply in love with her unsuspecting girlfriend Diane, CW has planned a romantic weekend away for their one year anniversary. Flashes of the murderous identity thief we are more familiar with, soon start to rise to the surface, when obnoxious and over-friendly influencer Charlotte, played with a great amount of blase ignorance and entitlement by BARBARIAN'S Georgina Campbell, upends CW's plans. CW hatches a scheme to lure Charlotte into her good graces, kicking off a dizzying, blood soaked plot that spans continents and sees the return of a familiar face looking for revenge.

Once more we are treated to beautiful cinematography, a cast of despicable and/or vapid characters and another captivating performance from Cassandra Naud that deepens her portrayal of CW, while still keeping the character as enigmatic as ever. Harder's reluctance to show why CW is the way she is somehow makes her only one of two sympathetic characters in the franchise so far. As a result of this obfuscation, she is one of the more interesting antagonists to pop up onscreen in quite some time, somehow getting the audience to root for her. What helps create empathy for such a murderous villain is the expanded takedown of online culture. 

As well as multiplying the number of locations, we are also treated to a look at other aspects of influencer culture, mainly through the inclusion of a misogynistic men's rights live streamer played with convincing smugness by Jonathan Whitesell. The spot-on portrayal gives this particular entry a timely aspect, also making the two films an accurate and blackly comic depiction of the divisive, opinionated online times we live in. Even the spectre of Artificial Intelligence is raised here in one development that is glossed over.

Harder's direction is even slicker and more ambitious here than in it was in the previous film, deserving to be seen on the big screen, an option which is now limited outside the festival circuit, due to its exclusivity on SHUDDER. The two hour running time flies by at such a pace that the numerous plot gaps and instances of sheer coincidence are barely noticed on a first viewing.  This blackly, satirical saga continues in such fun fashion, mainly due to the manipulative psycho at the heart INFLUENCERS, that it's all too easy to hit that ‘like’ button. Sorry.

Iain MacLeod