Film

The Influencer

Name: The Influencer
Genre: Thriller, Drama
Released: 2022
Cast: Cloe Barreto, Sean de Guzman, Elizabeth Oropesa, Ruby Ruiz, Soliman Cruz

A Philippine thriller about an influencer drawn into a dangerously obsessive relationship that spirals from sexual chemistry into something far darker. Tense, sensual, and genuinely uncomfortable—it watches desire curdle into control with mounting dread. For anyone who's felt attraction tip into something sinister.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like relationship thrillers where desire itself is the danger, and where the glossy surfaces of online fame sit uneasily over something rawer.

Skip it if you need likeable people to root for, since its characters are messy and rarely explain themselves.

What it asks of you: About ninety-seven minutes of steady attention; it lets discomfort gather slowly rather than stacking jolts, so patience pays off more than quick reactions.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Crimes of Passion1984

De Palma at his most audacious: a woman's sexual double life becomes a descent into madness and murder. Kathleen Turner is riveting as desire and violence become indistinguishable. Visually intoxicating and morally rotten.

But The pacing glacial at points, and its sexual politics are genuinely troubling even by 80s standards. Some may find it more artful than actually moving.

A Cure for Wellness2017

Mise-en-scène as suffocation: a thriller where atmosphere of control and manipulation matters more than plot. Gorgeous, unsettling, and committed to making wellness culture look like slow-motion psychological horror.

But Stretches to 146 minutes and meanders deliberately. If you want answers, clarity, or a hurried ending, this will feel glacial and frustrating.

Goodnight Mommy2015

Austrian horror-thriller about obsession, identity, and a love so warped it becomes monstrous. Visually beautiful and utterly sick. Trusts the audience to sit with real discomfort rather than explain it away.

But Graphic body horror and genuine cruelty. The twist lands harder if you know nothing, but the film's cold tone isn't for everyone. Some find it clinical rather than scary.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Influencer

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Carol2015

Both examine how intimacy and obsession blur; how being desired can feel like being hunted; how love can be a form of entrapment, even when it feels beautiful.

Todd Haynes' elegant period thriller about two women's desire becoming transgressive. Like *The Influencer*, it's about how intimacy can exclude the world—but here, that's achingly romantic until it isn't. The camera finds danger in longing.

But Glacial pacing and muted emotional register. The intimacy is emotional rather than sexual, which some find distant. Not a thriller in the conventional sense.

Play Misty for Me1971

Clint Eastwood's directorial debut: a casual sexual encounter becomes obsession and terror. Pacing is immaculate, and the film understands how quickly intimacy can turn into entrapment. A template for psychological thrillers that still works.

But Early 70s pacing means it takes time to unspool. The final act strains plausibility slightly, and the gender dynamics read as very much of their moment.

Possession1981

Andrzej Żuławski's maximalist fever dream about a couple's disintegration into violence and obsession. Irrational, visceral, and genuinely unnerving. The apartment becomes a character—suffocating and alive with rage.

But Deliberately incoherent and emotionally exhausting. If you want sense or a clean narrative, you'll leave frustrated. It operates purely on fever-dream logic and feeling.

Nocturnal Animals2016

Tom Ford's film-within-film about art, revenge, and the way desire warps in retrospect. Brutal and beautiful, with Jake Gyllenhaal delivering two versions of masculine damage. The structure itself is a thriller.

But The nested storytelling can feel self-consciously clever. Some find it more visually cold than emotionally gripping, and the third act asks a lot of patience.

Unfaithful2002

Adrian Lyne's elegant, erotic thriller about an affair that metastasizes into violence. Diane Lane is superb—the film tracks how sexual transgression unravels everything. Stylish and knowing about desire's cost.

But The morality is dated (the film judges its female protagonist harshly), and the pacing slackens in the middle. It can feel more expensive than dangerous.

Bitter Lake2015

A slow-burn psychological drama where a young woman becomes obsessed with an older man. Tension builds through intimacy and discomfort rather than plot mechanics. Claustrophobic and deeply unsettling.

But Nearly two hours of people talking and looking at each other. No action, sparse music, deliberately unglamorous. Patience is mandatory; payoff is subtle.

Burning2018

Both use sexual jealousy as a gateway to something darker—but *Burning* asks whether obsession is rational or constructed, whether we invent the darkness we see in others.

Lee Chang-dong's three-hour South Korean masterpiece about jealousy, class, and a love triangle where nothing is quite as it seems. Slow-cinema at its most hypnotic—tension builds from glances and silences. Devastating.

But Three hours, minimal plot, and the ending deliberately refuses to resolve. If you need narrative momentum or clarity, this will feel like punishment. Some find it pretentious.

A Dark Song2016

Both trap two people in an intimate space where obsession and dependency become indistinguishable from love, and where isolation allows darkness to grow unchecked.

An Irish supernatural drama about two strangers locked in a house, performing an occult ritual. Seems like it's about religion until it becomes about grief, control, and the ways we trap ourselves through desperate need. Quietly devastating.

But Extremely slow and deliberately obscure about its plot until late. No jump scares, minimal drama until the end. The supernatural angle is a metaphor, not a spectacle.