Aahana Swrup
‘Influencer’ charts a psychological horror story where what is supposed to be a fun, international vacation turns into a dreadful nightmare. The film follows Madison, a social media influencer, who is on a solo vacation in Thailand. Although her online feed is full of aspirational and entertaining content, reality paints a much different picture for her. After her boyfriend, Ryan, cancelled on the trip at the last minute, she finds herself with little else to do but laze around in her luxurious hotel. However, things begin to look up when her paths cross with fellow traveller, CW, a young and confident woman who seems to know all the best local dives and attractions. Although this results in a pleasant friendship, things soon take a dark turn when the influencer goes out to a remote island with CW, only to find herself abandoned the next morning. As a result, the latter begins stealing Madison’s life bit by bit until Ryan makes a surprise appearance, possibly throwing a wedge in CW’s best-laid plans. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Influencer Plot Synopsis
Madison’s trip to Thailand was supposed to be a goldmine for her social media career. However, since arriving in Bangkok, her posts have mostly consisted of inspirational spiels about traveling and vacationing, filmed from the comfort of her hotel. This is largely because the influencer has found herself in a bit of a depressive slump after her boyfriend, Ryan, ditched her on the trip. Eventually, one night, she finds herself on the receiving end of unwanted advances from another patron at the hotel bar. Fortunately for her, another traveller, CW, manages to save her from the conversation. As this interaction blooms into a friendship, the influencer begins travelling with CW, finally enjoying the city for its nightlife and sightseeing spots. However, disaster strikes when Madison returns from a night out and finds that her hotel room has been broken into.
The mysterious robber seems to have stolen her cash, alongside her passport, which prevents Madison from traveling back home in time. Even after she puts in the paperwork for a temporary passport, with CW’s help, she has no choice but to extend her stay by a week. When she informs Ryan about the same, her boyfriend adopts a sour personality, almost blaming his girlfriend for the disaster. As a result, Madison ends up breaking up with him. Over the next few days, she travels with CW, staying over at her luxurious Villa in the jungle. On their first night at the place, the seasons traveller takes the influencer out on an adventure, and the two set off on a motorboat at the crack of dawn. Their destination is a lone, remote island in the middle of nowhere. Initially, Madison finds peace and tranquility on the Island. Later in the night, when CW makes eerie comments about abandoning her on the Island, the influencer doesn’t take her seriously, passing it off as a spooky campfire joke.
However, the next morning, CW does precisely that and leaves a sleeping Madison alone and helpless on the Island. Back in her Villa, she finds herself with free access to the influencer’s hefty bank accounts, which go toward funding her lavish lifestyle. Furthermore, she uses editing apps to continue making content for Madison’s page, swapping out her face for the creator’s in post-production. In doing so, she ensures that none of her friends or fans grow concerned about her abrupt disappearance. Yet, only a handful of days pass before CW finds herself with an itch to find another victim and repeat the whole process all over again. This time, an influencer named Jessica becomes her target. Although her well-travelled experiences make it more difficult for CW to use her old tactic, she still manages to gain Jessica’s friendship and trust. Nonetheless, she finds herself in for a shock when she takes the solo traveller back to her Villa, only to find Ryan at the place.
As it turns out, Madison’s boyfriend has traveled to Thailand in an effort to get back together with her. Naturally, he’s disappointed to learn that she isn’t with CW. Still, instead of packing up and leaving, he seems content ot stick around and wait for her. Consequently, his presence throws her entire plan off-balance, especially once Jessica learns that Madison’s hotel room had also been broken into shortly after she and CW became friends. This piques her suspicions, compelling her to try to cut the trip short. Yet, the other woman manages to confront her before she can leave. In the violent altercation that follows, Jessica dies at the hands of the other traveler, who stuffs her inside a suitcase to avoid Ryan’s suspicion. Later, she convinces the latter that the other influencer has already left and dupes him into believing they slept together. Still, once Ryan prepares to return home, he can’t shake off the feeling that something must be off about Madison’s disappearance.
Influencer Ending: Is Madison Alive? How Did She Survive?
When CW leaves Madison on the Island, she believes the latter’s fate to be all but sealed. From the looks of it, it seems like she has pulled this same scheme at least once or twice before. Therefore, she’s confident in how things are bound to unravel. The Island isn’t a particularly survivable place, sustaining no easy access to food or water. Furthermore, it’s far enough away from any shipping lines that it seems to be well and truly solitary, ensuring there’s no possibility of a rescue. For the same reason, she believes that the influencer, who is used to a cushy and convenient life, won’t last more than a week out in the wilderness. Thus, once she leaves Madison on the Island, she spares her no second thought. In fact, it’s her ex-boyfriend who becomes CW’s main concern.
Ryan comes to Thailand with the idea of winning Madison back after their abrupt breakup. In her absence, CW ends up having to run interference, playing the role of her impromptu roommate while faking conversations with Ryan as his ex-girlfriend over text messages and phone calls. She has to ensure that she can keep up the charade on her social media so that it appears as if she’s still in Bangkok, enjoying her vacation while only actively avoiding her ex-boyfriend. However, since she’s relying on old photos and her own abilities to create new ones, she ends up slipping up in more ways than one. One of the posts on Madison’s account showcases her with a new boyfriend in front of her old hotel. When Ryan’s suspicions compel him to snoop around, he learns that the influencer hasn’t been spotted at the hotel for weeks and that the photo itself was misleading due to weather inaccuracies.
In the end, all it takes is one glitch in a doctored video for Ryan to realize CW has been faking activity on Madison’s account for weeks. As a result, he breaks into her Villa to find further proof. Nonetheless, once he confronts CW, he inevitably loses out to her. As a result, the latter finds herself returning to the Island to dispose of her new victims, Jessica and Ryan. Once there, she realizes things haven’t quite unraveled as she may have hoped. The log, preferred by her victims to keep track of their surviving days, is full of tally marks, suggesting Madison held out for much longer than her assailant had assumed. Once CW ventures further into the forest, the influencer attacks her from behind. In the aftermath, Madison steals her attacker’s motorboat and breaks out of the Island, this time leaving CW as a victim inside her own cage. Although the narrative never goes into describing how the influencer survived on the remote Island, it’s likely that her previously mentioned Girl Scout background helped. Ultimately, it seems CW underestimated her victim, which led to her own demise.
What Happens to CW? Why Does She Laugh After Being Left on the Island?
When CW arrives at her secluded Island, she isn’t expecting any surprises. In her mind, Madison and possibly every other influencer can be grouped into easy, ditzy targets who can’t outsmart her and won’t be missed by anyone once gone. She purposefully targets content creators who travel solo due to a mix of personal vendetta and convenience. Once the victims have been abandoned on the Island, she is only concerned with faking their vacation lives for a few weeks to avoid suspicion. Therefore, her routine is thrown off when she realizes that Madison has failed to play the perfect victim. Instead of dying of thirst and hunger in a matter of days, she has somehow managed to survive the Island for weeks.
Initially, CW explores the forest, expecting a fight. However, the novelty of the experience gets the better of her, and Madison manages to knock her out before she is even detected. Afterward, the influencer has a single-minded focus on escaping from the Island, which is why she immediately boards the singular motorboat and leaves her attacker behind. In a way, this is the perfect revenge to exact upon someone like CW. Madison not only outsmarts her but also gives her a taste of her own medicine, challenging her to survive through the hell she put her victims through. Only this time around, the chances of anyone coming to the Island are even less. When CW wakes up on the Island, with the view of the influencer escaping on the horizon, she comes to the same realization. The irony of the events likely drives the absurd laugh that acts as a bookend to her story.
Why Did Ryan Come Looking For Madison? Is He Dead?
Initially, when Ryan’s character is introduced into the narrative, he seems like a deadbeat boyfriend. He cancels his vacation with his girlfriend and blames her for her stolen passport instead of showing any sympathy. As such, his sudden appearance in Thailand seems a bit surprising. However, as it turns out, the other social media influencer is harboring a secret that might just explain his earlier weird behaviour. After Ryan devotes himself to finding Madison, he eventually uncovers CW’s secret. He even manages to gather some evidence and capture the other woman as a precursor to a rescue mission. Nonetheless, the cards still remain in CW’s favor. Despite all the evidence Madison’s boyfriend may have collected, the kidnapper also has amassed forged proof to paint Ryan as an abusive boyfriend.
This, paired with the fact that Ryan currently has CW beaten up and tied up, would likely compel the authorities to believe CW over him. As a result, the latter has an advantage that allows her to make a deal with the man, convincing him that she can take him to his ex-girlfriend. Consequently, the duo goes out to her motorboat at the docks, where she manages to get the upper hand and kill Ryan. In the end, she hauls him on the same boat, alongside Jessica’s dead body. Ultimately, this gives her a reason to sail out to the Island again, which eventually leads to Madison’s escape. As the film ends, the influencer manages to flee with the dead bodies of Ryan and Jessica on board. It’s likely that this hard evidence will help her reveal the truth about CW to the world.
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