With Cassandra Naud oozing sultry, cutthroat menace as a woman on a mission to rid society of its online “cancers,” Kurtis David Harder’s film made a meal out of inventive influencer murder. Three years later, the writer/director now returns to that grisly well with Influencers, a follow-up (December 12, on Shudder) that expands its critical purview while staying true to the series’ ruthless core. It’s a taut, tense, of-the-moment thriller with real (reel?) bite.

At the conclusion of its predecessor, CW (Naud)—a nomad with a conspicuous birthmark on her right cheek and a habit of slaying pretty influencers by stranding them on a remote Gulf of Thailand island—was left to fend for herself on her isolated killing ground courtesy of would-be victim Madison (Emily Tennant).

All seemed lost

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