Following three years of living in a pandemic-affected world, the world is beginning to open up a lot more, and film studios are beginning to make you nervous of traveling the world again.
Shudder, a horror-themed streamer, has acquired the distribution rights to a travel-themed thriller called Influencer, which follows a young lady (Emily Tennant) as she travels through Thailand. After her boyfriend canceled his part of the trip, she meets a charismatic backpacker (Cassandra Naud), who shows her around like a tour guide.
As they depart from the coast of the Atlantic, there may be a few skeletons in her newfound friend's closet. The film is intended to be a satire of influencer culture as well as the Western stereotypes of travelers going through Southeast Asia.
In 2022, there was a slasher that more explicitly parodies influencers in the Australian film Sissy. While Influencer will likely poke fun at backpackers, it probably will not be on the same level of sheer rage and violence as Sissy, as far as we know.
Kurtis David Harder is the film's director, who directed a segment of V/H/S/94 as well as several well-known horror films from under the radar.
Influencer has already had a limited theatrical run, with reviewers giving glowing reviews for the indie horror film. It is expected to be released in the northern hemisphere in the spring, so get prepared for some brutal backpacking fun.