Influencers (2025) Takes Its Twisty Psychological Horror to New Heights
Title: Influencers
First Non-Festival Release: December 12, 2025 (Digital/Streaming Platforms)
Director: Kurtis David Harder
Writer: Kurtis David Harder
Runtime: 110 Minutes
Starring: Cassandra Naud, Emily Tennant, Lisa Delamar
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
Social media influencers have long drawn ire from a variety of critics for many reasons. Concerns of overconsumption, unnecessary focus on aesthetics, being poor role models, frustrations with the work itself, and their effect on the social and political landscape have caused this tiny segment of the population to get disproportionate blame for society’s woes.
CW (Cassandra Naud) believes this. Her hatred of influencers caused her to kill several people and maroon Madison (Emily Tennant) on an island. Madison returns the favor and barely escapes with her life, but when she returns to the island with authorities CW vanishes. Meanwhile, CW makes it to the South of France with intentions of starting over. Old habits, however, die hard.
Sleek, stylish, and clever, Influencers maintains its predecessor’s tension while diving deeper into the delightfully unhinged CW’s wounded psyche.
Knee-deep in the twisty glory of its story, Influencers glides through various timelines to further the psychological war between CW and Madison. Giving equal treatment to both lead’s stories, Influencers posits how the internet makes it hard for truly good people to survive within its ecosystem. Despite surviving, Madison’s life is in shambles: suspected of the murders CW committed and ex-communicated from society in the cruelest ways. Meanwhile, CW is in the South of France living up her epic love story with Diane (Lisa Delamar). The juxtaposition subtly makes a strong statement on the ways the internet hides virtue while promoting strife.
Going beyond the simple photoshop and identity theft that CW is clearly comfortable with, Influencers adds more tools to her murder kit. Taking the general commentary from the first, Influencers kicks it up a notch touching on parasocial relationships, deepfakes and revenge porn, artificial intelligence, and the ways we hide our true selves in this plain view of the public, whether for protection or deflection. It’s no surprise that a predator like CW relies on and obsesses over this technology. These tools are typically wielded by people with deep psychological wounds, easy marks for tech companies vying for your complete attention at all times. CW isn’t concerned with the ethics if it gets her what she wants. Much like the tech bros burning up the planet, it’s the slithering lack of empathy that makes CW’s fixations so dangerous.
Beyond CW’s troubling addiction to technology and her deep spite for perceived shallowness, layers of her character are peeled away to reveal more of what lurks beneath. Observant, clever, and adept at planning logistics at least three steps out, CW is a psychopath with restraint. This intentionality allows CW to glide through financial obstacles and social circles just the same, making her exploits sharply successful. What’s scarier above all this is that CW is clearly capable of human connection. Her relationship with Diane proves that there is an ache to be understood and loved beneath her steely veneer. It’s her choice to fully embrace her violent tendencies despite her life seemingly changing for the better in France that makes the ensuing descent rewarding.
Serving up plenty of twists and tension, Influencers takes the violence to even campier extremes. CW’s murderous run in Influencers takes the concept from the original and pushes it to its logical extreme. Every bit as unhinged as she was in her Thai adventure, CW’s reign of technology-fueled terror gets even more deranged as she weasels her way out of another corner. In-line with its technology-suspicious commentary, Influencers finds clever ways for Madison to creep around CW’s carefully constructed web of lies. It’s in these moments when the two women circle around each other like sharks smelling blood in the water where Influencers gets wild and creative with its violence and the ways it is inflicted: physically, mentally, and socially.
Some may tire of the subject, but Influencers takes care to keep its commentary as fresh and on-top of the trends as possible. Its depiction of the perils of social media, both those in the light and those not, continues to illuminate the ways in which our obsession with each other is destroying ourselves. Asking audiences the question of who we really are while holding a mirror to our shadow selves, the kind that lurk in anonymous chat rooms trolling their life’s away into oblivion as well as those that embrace the shiny plastic online interactions without critical thought, Influencers isn’t afraid to get real. Fantastic performances, fascinating characters, and a beef so legendary it goes international, Influencers is an easy sell to horror audiences.
Overall Score? 8/10
