Influencer 2023 Ending Explained | MOVIE Recap REVIEW | DRAMA HORROR
Today I am going to recap and explain a recently released movie called Influencer. The movie starts with an Instagram influencer called Madison who was in Thailand. She was here for a week, it was a vacation arranged by her boyfriend Ryan who was supposed to be here a couple of days ago but he bailed out. Madison uploads a couple of videos, photos and promotes a beauty product. It seemed she was not happy being alone here.
At night, when she was drinking at a bar of a five-star hotel, a creepy old man approaches her for a casual talk. His name was Rupert and he was British. He casually tried seducing Madison with his charming little talks. A girl sitting nearby by the name of CW sensed his intention and made an excuse. She rescued Madison and these two started talking. CW was local, a tourist guide sort of a girl. She assured Madison by saying the place is safe but she should be careful while traveling all alone. She offers companionship to Madison as there was no sign of Ryan. For the next couple of days, she took Madison to some exotic locations. Offered the best food. These two spent some quality time in nightclubs and enjoyed their days.
On one such night after coming from a nightclub, Madison saw her villa's main door open. Someone has broken in. The burglars had taken many things, money, beauty products, clothes as well as Madison's passport. She was horrified seeing this and called CW for help, who quickly called the police. Police registered the case for theft. CW gave Madison a form to fill out to get a new passport. Generally, it takes to weeks to get a new passport from US Embassy. Madison had no intention of staying for more weeks here as she had other appointments back in the US.
At night Madison informs this news to Ryan who was. clearly upset. He was a demanding type of guy who seemed to care a lot much about her Instagram account than about herself. He was worried that skipping shoots will lower her account's ranking. Madison was upset as well as he was not giving her his full attention. She after thinking hard decides to break up with Ryan as the relationship was going downhill. She abruptly cancels the call. For the next few days, Madison Travels Thailand with CW and explores more exotic places.
Thailand has much to offer and it never disappoints any traveler I guess. She uploads some really breathtaking photos into her account. When she asked CW for a selfie CW refused, she was photoshy. It seemed she thought she is not beautiful because of her birthmark, and people will comment in a rude way which will unnecessarily put Madison in a tough spot.
After many days of traveling, CW took Madison to her place which was by the sea. She had planned a surprise for her in the morning which was to go to a nearby Island all alone. She had a boat and she knew all about sea navigation. Madison without thinking much okes this new challenge cum excitement as she wanted to do something daring in her life. I guess this is great for accounts, views, and likes. I must say this is one hell of a woman to take this kind of trip. Anyway, these two arrive at this remote Island, which was quite a distance from the mainland and seldom tourists used to visit here. Shipping lines too were for out.
Madison observes a marking on a wood. Seven lines were drowned.At night sitting in front of the fire Madison says it has been 10 years since she was out in front of a fire like this. 10 years ago she used to sit with her friends like this and hear horror stories. She says if one of my friends would have been here she would have said that you. Meaning CW brought me here to kill me. All alone, with nobody to hear my scream, it would have been a perfect spot for a murder. CW laughs at this a little and says I am not going to kill you, but I will leave you here. You will survive for 3 to 4 days and then you will starve, you will not get any food, you will not get any water and you will perish into the sand. Just like others.
You think you are the center of the story, everyone follows you, and everyone loves you, but the reality is different. you are just a girl who likes roaming. If you die here nobody will notice and your story will end. Madison laughed at this as she was sure it was all a joke. Madison replies by saying if I die here, my followers will notice and come looking for me. These two laugh out loud and dance around the fire all night.
The next morning CW did exactly what she said. She left Madison on the beach and took her phone. She continued uploading pics so that the whole world would believe she is still alive. She hijacked Madison's account and life. It was she who stole Madison's money, clothes, and passport. She impersonated Medison for days in Madison's dress. She used AI technology to clone Madison's voice. Used AI face-swapping tech to replace her face with Madisons in all her pics and videos.
Ryan was constantly calling and texting Madison's number to patch up but CW just ignored him. She developed a physical photo of Madison and placed it on the wall with other girls. Meaning before this she had killed 5 other girls. She was a perfect psychopath cum serial killer.
After taking a rest for a few days in Madison's Villa CW started searching for her next victim. Quickly she found another influencer by the name of Jessica who was also travelling Thailand all by herself. Just like before she socialized with Jessica and quickly offered her to show places around. On one of her photoshoots, she stole Jessica's hotel keycard. Later like before she robbed her clothes, money, and passport. When Jessica called her for help, she took her to Madison's villa where she got a rude shock surprise.
Why does Ryan suddenly come to Thailand?
Apparently, Ryan was here and had arranged a surprise. This Villa was in Madison's name and he was paying the bill for it. He had the security clearance to get in. Jessica was also surprised to see Ryan here as CW had told her that this Villa was in her name and nobody was living there, except herself. CW quickly changed her narrative here, saying she is Madison's friend and she allowed her to stay here. All this was confusing to Ryan but he believed CW's story. The next morning she called Ryan on his phone with a fake Madison voice. She used AI technology that clones voices and says whatever you type. The phone call was in real-time meaning whatever she wrote went directly to Ryan's phone. Fake Madison's voice told Ryan to get out of her villa as they have broken up. Ryan was confused by their behavior of Madison, he was sure that she would come back. He decides to stay here for a few days to wait for Madison's return. This was bad news for CW as she was hoping to resolve this issue quickly.
Why does Jessica decide to leave CW’s place?
These three started exploring places where Ryan told Jessica about Madison's burglary. He shared his suspicion about CW as well. Jessica being an experienced traveler started checking CW's back story. To know more about CW she sends a direct message to Madison. Since Madison's phone was with CW, she read the message. Jessica felt creepy about CW and decides to leave the Villa asap. CW sensed her intention, but before she could go out she stopped her. These two argued a little over the facts as Jessica believed CW was hiding something. CW was just a nice little beautiful psychopath serial killer whom nobody suspected all these years. She attacked Jessica and banged her head into the wall. Later killed her by placing her heel in her neck. When Ryan returned she wanted to kill him as well but soon she got a notification. Ryan had tagged her in one of his photos as Madison's friend.
Now CW has to delete that photo so that she could carry on with her plans. She wanted to keep her identity hidden. The next morning CW lies to Ryan by saying Jessica had gone home. She said she will message you. When Ryan checks out his account, he was shocked to see Madison's new photo. Madison was with another guy and they were in love. This breaks Ryan's heart as his breakup was official now. Of course, this was the job of CW as she had posted this edited image. Later she consoles Ryan by saying, you traveled all the way across the globe to patch things up. If she doesn't understand that then she is not worth it for you. These two chit-chats a little about this. Here Ryan comments on Madison's account, as its ranking, was down and the images she was uploading were of poor quality. It was as if the account was hijacked. He offers his skills of promoting influencers to CW as he thought she is also of that caliber.
She is unique with her birthmark and all. Cw laughs at his innocence and declines the often. Later in the evening, these two spend time in a club where she gave him a medicated drink to make him sleepy. She brought him back to her house, removed his clothes, removed her clothes, and puts a protection on his thing. She sleeps beside him as if they had consensual. She deletes her photo from his mobile. The next morning Ryan was shocked to see himself naked and was confused. He couldn't remember anything but the evidence was showing that he had consensual.
Later in the afternoon CW drops Ryan to the nearby ferry station and says goodbye. Then she burns all of Madison's belongings. Here we were shown a flashback of how Ryan and Madison met. How he found her refreshing and influencer material. He was just not ready to give up on her yet. He located the hotel from where Madison's last photo was uploaded. Upon inquiry, the staff at the hotel told him that Madison never stayed with them. This raised his confusion even more. He was desperate for answers when the same guy, Rupert approaches him. He starts small talk with him but Ryan was in no mood. He shows him, Madison's latest photo and asks whether he saw her ever here. Rupert remembers Madison and CW a few days ago and explains what he knew. He says this day before yesterday's photo is fake as there are no clouds in it.
How does Ryan realize that CW impersonated Madison?
Apparently, it was the rainy season, when it rains it pours in Thailand. The fake image uploaded by CW was taken during the summer. she just edited it and replaced someone with Madison. This shocks Ryan, he starts his investigation. He starts looking at Madison's images and videos after her passport got lost. After removing the beauty filter he realizes the truth. The face was clearly visible and Madison was clearly in danger. Ryan quickly traveled back to the Villa where everything was gone, except CW's bag. Inside the bag, he got Madison's diary in which she had written her last experience. By reading it he understood about the boat and the island. When CW came back to her Villa, he attacked her from behind and tied her to a chair. With a knife at her throat, he asked about Madison. Here CW tried blackmailing Ryan by saying if he called Cops then they will arrest him instead of her. When she had access to his mobile she messaged a few abusive texts to Madison's account implicating Ryan.
Ryan in fury grabbed her and took her to her boat and asked her to take him to Madison. CW being a clever psychopath and serial killer knew exactly what to do. She said okay but quickly and sneakily attacked and threw him into the water. Once inside she killed him with his own knife. She hid his body in her boat and returned to her Villa. From Madison's account, she posted some fake allegations against Ryan and accused him of molestation. By the next morning, she received tons of messages and notifications as everyone was shocked to hear this. They were showering their help.
What happens to Madison in the end?
All this excited CW. After some days, she took her boat and landed on the island. To her shock and surprise the fire was still burning there. Someone was already there or Madison was still alive. The marking on the wood log read 25. CW started looking for Madison's body but she couldn't find it anywhere. Then suddenly Madison appeared behind her and attacked her. She knocked her over, took her boat, and left the island. After a few minutes, CW woke up and saw Madison leaving her there. A small faintly laugh was still there on her face. With this, the film ends.
So what happened here? Well, it was clear that CW was a psychopath and she was targeting beauty influencers. I guess it had to do with her birthmark. When she was growing up all her peers might have ragged her, called her ugly and whatnot, which might have disturbed her mental health. She perceived these influencers are the root cause of it as these guys were saying to the world what is beauty. CW didn't have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, she was feeling alone. She compensated for this feeling by hijacking the influencer's life. CW said these girls are entitled and made huge money without much effort, they never deserved such extravagant lifestyles.
She had a lot of anger inside her and was clearly suffering. It gave her an adrenaline rush when she planned the perfect murder. In the end, Madison left her on the island to die yet she had a smile on her face. Meaning she never valued her life, she was suicidal all along. Overall it's a good movie. It showcases the fake world of influencers and their effect on society at large.
