Influencer (2022 film)

Madison is a social media influencer who has been using her vacation in Thailand as a way to promote herself and several advertisers online. While the posts give off the impression of a glamorous, exciting time, the reality is that Madison spends most of her time in her luxury hotel eating Western food and upset that her boyfriend Ryan did not come with her.

During the vacation Madison is befriended by CW, who takes her on a tour of local hotspots. They return to find that someone had broken into Madison's hotel room and stolen her passport. CW suggests that Madison extend her vacation while waiting for a replacement. She agrees and the following day CW takes Madison to a deserted island, where she abandons the influencer. CW then returns so that she can enjoy living Madison's lifestyle, with Madison's passport, going so far as to fake a social media post claiming that Madison is taking a sabbatical from influencing. This enjoyment is short lived, as CW quickly becomes dissatisfied. She then decides to approach another vacationing influencer, Jessica, hoping to find more excitement. CW similarly breaks into Jessica's room in order to steal her belongings. The two women later travel back to Madison's room. They discover Ryan waiting for Madison, as he had been hoping to surprise her with a proposal. CW lies and says that Madison allowed her to stay, something that neither Ryan nor Jessica fully believe.

The following day Jessica becomes increasingly more suspicious and confronts CW, who beats the woman to death. CW then proceeds to trick Ryan into believing that Madison broke up with him and began sleeping with other men. These lies are quickly disproven and Ryan discovers that CW abducted Madison and was behind the sabbatical post on social media. He tries to force CW to take him to Madison, only for the woman to murder him and post lies about him online using Madison's account. CW then returns to the island to dump the bodies, in the process discovering that Madison is still alive. Madison manages to overcome CW while she is searching for the influencer and steals the boat, which she rides back to civilization. The film ends with CW watching the influencer ride off with a smile.

• Emily Tennant as Madison
• Cassandra Naud as CW
• Sara Canning as Jessica
• Rory J. Saper as Ryan
• Paul Spurrier as Rupert
• Justin Sams as Jay

The following songs were featured in the film.[1]

1. "Skeleton" by Dan Kanvis
2. "Peach" by Jason Nolan
3. "Door Shutter" by Brokenchord
4. "Happy to Be Here" by Mascott
5. "Bullit" by Elephanz
6. "Party" by Orlando Angelo
7. "Reckless" by Orlando Angelo
8. "Beat Back" by Bowlz
9. "Next To You" by Bowlz
10. "Dancing On My Glock" by Attar
11. "Like Ugh" by Attar
12. "1992" by YNG Martyr
13. "Something in the Water" by Szlenderman
14. "Bossa De Amazones" by Konteks
15. "Getup" by Nicholas Franchise

Influencer had its world premiere on October 16, 2022 at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.[2] The film went on to screen at other film festivals and was picked up by the streaming service Shudder, which released the movie as one of its Shudder Originals in May 2023.[3]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 49 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Influencer should get plenty of likes from horror fans hungry for a smart, scary chiller with something to say."[4] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[5]

Brandon Yu of The New York Times wrote, "Harder has made good and entertaining use of a premise that could have become a simple gimmick, and Naud and Saper prove strong leads as their characters try to read each other between the likes."[6] Phil Hoad of The Guardian gave the film 3/5 stars, calling it a "smartly arranged thriller" and writing, "Harder and co-writer Tesh Guttikonda don't delve beneath the skin of their characters enough to fully flesh out their critique and bring Influencer into full psychological thriller territory... But the four-part shuffle keeps it lively, and Naud is an imposing black hole."[7] Noel Murray of the Los Angeles Times said the film "has the same kind of crafty plot as a Patricia Highsmith novel, taking audiences so deep inside the machinations of not-so-nice people that we're left wondering where our sympathies should lie."[8]

• Influencer at IMDb