Influencer Plot Summary
Influencer tells the story of Madison, a young social media influencer who has a huge following on Instagram. At the beginning of the movie, we see her wandering around Thailand while giving her fanbase an insight into how happy she is to be vacationing in such a beautiful country.
But when she’s not speaking to her fans, we see a different side to Madison as she really isn’t enjoying her time in Thailand at all. This is mainly because her boyfriend Ryan backed out of the trip last minute, so she is feeling lonely without him as she journies through this tropical paradise.
However, things start to improve for Madison when she meets a girl named CW at a local bar. The two strike up a conversation and quickly become friends, although CW isn’t quite as nice as she initially appears to be.
As the movie progresses, Madison’s life goes from bad to worse because of her new companion and she goes through quite an horrific ordeal.
Does Madison survive what happens to her? Let’s take a closer look at the movie.
Who is CW?
We aren’t told much about CW so we don’t quite know who she is or why she happened to be in Thailand. However, we do know that she isn’t a big fan of social media, judging by her reactions to Madison’s need to post everything about her trip, and as the movie progresses, we know she has the ability to take on other people’s personas.
During the early part of the movie, when CW manages to save Madison from a creep who is making a pass at her, she appears to be kind and friendly. When Madison’s villa is broken into and she loses her passport, CW continues to be the ‘Good Samaritan’ by volunteering to stay with Madison so she doesn’t have to be in the villa alone.
After befriending Madison and winning her trust, CW surprises her with an impromptu trip to an isolated island. Do they sing campfire songs and share marshmallows together? Not quite!
What happens on the island?
Poor Madison has to prolong her stay in Thailand after her passport is stolen. She video-calls Ryan to let him know and then cuts him off when he starts blaming her for what happened.
It’s a good job she has CW on her side to cheer her up. And when CW surprises her with a boat trip to the island, Madison’s extended stay in Thailand doesn’t seem so bad after all.
But CW doesn’t have Madison’s best interests at heart. After they arrive at the island, she tells Madison that she is going to leave her there all alone. She also tells Madison that she isn’t likely to survive for long without any fresh water to drink. This gloomy conversation is considered a joke by Madison, who thinks her new friend is playfully trying to scare her. But this isn’t the case.
The next morning CW gets back into her boat and leaves Madison on the island alone. And as there is no wifi signal, the stranded influencer isn’t able to call anybody for help.
Why did CW leave Madison on the island?
It’s hard to say. Perhaps she just hates social media obsessives and wants them to die alone without the support of their followers. Or perhaps she is just a psychopath who likes seeing other people suffer. It might also be that she’s a scammer, who wanted a taste of Madison’s life by ditching the influencer before taking her villa and money.
After leaving Madison, she returns to the villa and makes herself at home. She also steals Madison’s identity by photoshopping her face onto Madisons and sending messages to the influencer’s followers using a voice generator to let them know that she is taking a break from social media.
It’s clear that CW has done this kind of thing before. And not long after she settles into Madison’s life, she targets another influencer by the name of Jessica. She ‘accidentally’ bumps into Jessica in town and later meets her again in a bar where she tells her she is one of her loyal followers.
CW is lying of course and Jessica becomes wise to this when Ryan unexpectedly shows up in Thailand.
Why is Ryan in Thailand?
Ryan is in Thailand to surprise Madison and to make amends with her, but he is the one that gets a surprise. He is startled to find CW in the villa who tells him that she is Madison’s friend and that his girlfriend is away.
The next morning he receives a phone call from Madison but this is from CW, who is using the software on her laptop to trick Ryan into thinking Madison is speaking to him.
Shortly after, Ryan speaks to Jessica and tells her that Madison had told him the villa had been broken into. Jessica is suspicious of this as her room had also been broken into around the time she met CW.
Later, Jessica confronts CW about the lies she suspects her of telling. This does not end well for the influencer. CW doesn’t want Jessica to ruin the life she is making for herself in Madison’s absence so kills her!
Ryan also realizes CW has been lying to him. When playing back the filtered videos CW had taken of herself as Madison, he notices CW’s birthmark on Madison’s face. He then finds his girlfriend’s diary and notices she has mentioned the island where CW eventually took her.
He puts two and two together and works out what CW has done. He forces her to take him to the island but before he gets into the boat, his trip is cut tragically short when she kills him.
Is Madison dead?
CW returns to the island with Ryan’s dead body, presumably so she can dump it and get away with the crime.
On arrival at the island, there is no sign of Madison’s body and she begins to suspect she might still be alive. This is confirmed when Madison suddenly appears and attacks CW.
Madison was able to survive on rainwater and fish, which gave her the strength to topple CW.
When CW falls to the ground unconscious, Madison takes this opportunity to steal the boat and ride away.
As Madison heads out into the ocean, CW regains consciousness. She watches Madison leave and smiles. Why does she smile? Well, it might be that she thinks Madison has the geographical skills of a lemming so suspects she might not find her way back to the resort. Or it might be that the last few days have been like a game for her and that she is smiling at Madison’s victory.
But what do you think about the movie and its ending? Do you think Madison made it back to her villa? Do you know why CW did what she did? Let us know in the comments below.
CW supposedly has a lot of money. Ryan said she didn’t do a good job with password protections. Also Madison thought it was so awesome she had her own boat. For an island not to have anything or anyone tells me it could perhaps belong to CW. CW is just a psychopath that loves games. I do wish the ending could be more clear. Madison is not going to have a choice but to report the crime. You got that poor woman dead in a suitcase. Perhaps CW builds a raft and flees the island. I do believe that she does own it.
CW miles because she knows Madison be charged with murder with the bodies in the boat.
Nice movie but the end could be clearer if they showed Madison reaching back to her villa.
When CW lands on the island, she see a cooked fish on a stake and glasses and bottles filled with water. You should correct your review.
If you remember, “Uncle Rupert” mentioned to Ryan at the bar that it had been raining alot recently when he was telling her that photo (of Madison and a fake new love interest) wasn’t taken recently. That rain itself was a hint all along that Madison could survive!
The rain gave her the water she required to stay alive.
I initially thought the former because when the shot zoomed out and showed the endless waters, I wondered if Madison stood a chance. But then when they showed Madison’s face again, clearly illustrating her strength and determination to have survived on the island without any resources, I dismissed that inference.
HOWEVER, when they showed CW smile, I’ll have to agree that it appeared she got satisfaction and had a twisted sense of respect for Madison, in essence, “winning” in the end. All the evidence would be at the villa when Madison returned, and although moot, Madison would be able to clear Ryan’s name from the lies and madness CW perpetrated.