Influencers review
Shudder ends 2025 on a high note with a sequel that lives up to its original.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Influencers
Directed by Kurtis David Harder
Written by Kurtis David Harder
Starring Cassandra Naud and Georgina Campbell
Influencers Review
I was a bit apprehensive about a sequel to Influencer. Not because I thought there wasn’t plenty more that could be done with its dynamic antagonist…there was (and is). And not because I wasn’t interested in what could happen next…I was (and am). It’s because my favorite aspect of Influencer isn’t everyone else’s favorite aspect of Influencer. While Cassandra Naud’s CW is the driving force behind what makes the movie work…it’s the rather brilliant way the first movie presents its final girl story that stuck with me the most. Namely…they didn’t show any of it. Madison (Emily Tennant) is dumped on a remote island fairly early on in Influencer. She pops back up for the ending…having survived a month in isolation. We see none of this. It’s an incredibly cool way to tell a story. CW is left to rot on the same island…and the credits roll.
Which brings us to my fear of what Influencers would be. More CW…yes, absolutely. Naud has created a fascinating character that deserves a long running franchise. But Tennant was listed in the credits too…and that concerned me. Not following Madison is where her power comes from. Following up on her story risked ruining a perfect ending. CW trapped on an island…left to an undetermined fate. Madison having found the strength to survive anything. A perfect ending. It’s a Halloween II problem. John Carpenter’s Halloween had a perfect ending too. No matter what the direct sequel did…it was going to have no choice but to ruin it. Any choice meant answering a question we don’t really want to have answered. Influencers faced a similar starting conundrum.
How did CW get off that island? She’s asked that question a few times throughout Influencers. We never get an answer. At one point she responds, as if answering the audience who has the same question, if that’s what you’re really taking from her story. It’s a neat trick…but it’s also a worrying sign. Because it’s a fair question for a direct sequel. It’s the issue with making one in the first place. We left her on an island with no idea what would happen to her. Influencers doesn’t have an answer because it isn’t supposed to happen. There is no answer. Madison was trapped there for a month. She only escapes because CW returns assuming she is long dead. CW just…gets away immediately. No explanation available. It undoes the perfection of the original’s ending just the same.
We catch up with CW a year after the events of Influencer. She’s celebrating her anniversary with girlfriend Diane (Lis Delamar) in France. When a famous influencer (Georgina Campbell) gets in the way of their vacation…CW’s bloodlust (and penchant for identity theft) returns. There’s a full half hour opening before the opening titles hit…and it ends with the assumption that whatever rehabilitation CW was trying to work through has come to a bloody end.
That’s when the story cuts back to Madison. Madison remains a supporting character in CW’s story…but she retains the agency she gained (ironically) offscreen in the original film. She takes control of her narrative…and is on a mission to find the woman who destroyed her life. Everything has gone wrong for Madison since returning from the island. While she is ultimately blameless for the deaths attached to her in the original film…everyone believes she’s a killer. Madison faces constant threats and slander at every turn. All because the woman she claims stole her life doesn’t seem to exist. Madison knows that finding and exposing her is the only way to get her life back.
Influencers is still mostly about CW…but Madison is wisely in control of her scenes this time around. The whole thing is obviously heading to a showdown between the two…and to the moment where Influencers has to make a choice. This is CW’s franchise…but Madison is the hero. Even when she’s out of sight. It’s what makes the original’s ending so perfect. I was afraid that a sequel would forget that…take a M3GAN 2.0 approach to rebranding its charismatic star as the hero. I should have had more faith. Influencers ultimately finds another perfect ending. One that allows Madison to retain her position as the hero on the fringes of someone else’s story. One that allows CW to play another twisted game…this time at a more personal cost…and gives Naud another canvas to paint with her talents.
My fears of a sequel that ruined the ending of the original turned out to be for naught. Instead, Influencers gives us a strong story about what happens to a final girl when her life has been destroyed by the events that made her one in the first place. It wisely keeps her to the side of its antagonist’s larger tale once again. Naud is the thing that makes these movies so interesting. She’s created one of the best characters in genre films today. How she got of that island, on the other hand…it’s still a fair question. Even if you want people to focus on things that are ultimately more important. Making a sequel means inviting the question. Refusing to answer doesn’t buy back that the more important part already has been.
Scare Value
Shudder ends a rocky 2025 with a worthwhile sequel to a strong part of their catalog. Cassandra Naud brings CW to unflinching life once again. Her story remains as interesting as it is entertaining. The new story fully understands what made the original work…paying off some character beats that could have been better off left unanswered…but are worth watching play out, nonetheless. Hopefully we return to this world again in the future.
3.5/5
Influencers Link
Streaming on Shudder
