'The Influencer Project' Review: A Timely Found-Footage Horror That Loses Its Way
By Becca Johnson - October 4, 2026
A directorial debut from Mike Nybroe and delivered by the creators of The Blair Witch Project, the aptly named The Influencer Project puts a modern spin on the found-footage genre. Chiara King stars as an influencer given the opportunity to travel to Copenhagen, where a documentary crew promises an unfiltered look behind the glamorous world of online fame. But when an obsessive stalker starts closing in, the documentary soon mutates into something far more terrifying, blurring the line between content and evidence.
There’s plenty to like here, from the intriguing premise to a decent dose of tension, but The Influencer Project unfortunately begins to unravel once it reaches its muddled and increasingly silly final act.
The Influencer Project is particularly good at building tension, gradually transforming what initially seems like a fairly realistic documentary about influencer culture into something far more sinister. The shift happens slowly enough that the horror never feels completely detached from reality, making the idea of an obsessive stalker all the more unsettling because it’s easy to imagine something similar happening in real life. Chiara King also commits fully to the fear factor, convincingly portraying someone who is genuinely frightened. Torn between allowing her stalker to dictate her life and heading home for safety or carrying on with the social media influencing job that brought her to Copenhagen, her growing anxiety gives the situation a very relatable, human element. The film does occasionally cheapen its atmosphere with some rather naff jump scares, but the slow build-up does most of the heavy lifting which works a treat.
The found-footage approach also attempts to keep things interesting, particularly through the way Nybroe incorporates livestreams, Instagram feeds and footage captured by the documentary crew. Switching between these different sources helps the film maintain the sense that we’re watching something pieced together from real recordings. Copenhagen is beautifully captured too, with its picturesque streets and colourful surroundings ironically doing exactly what Chiara’s job is supposed to do: making you want to visit. Unfortunately, the presentation is considerably more inventive than the ideas themselves. From the masked figure stalking Chiara to the wider commentary surrounding the dangers of influencer culture, very little here feels particularly fresh, with the film revisiting themes and concepts that other found-footage and social-media horrors have already explored. It’s an effective package, but there’s nothing particularly revelatory lurking beneath it.
The Influencer Project’s biggest sin is the poor decision-making at play from our characters. It’s hardly an unfamiliar horror trope, but this one really takes the cake when it comes to protagonists making spectacularly ill-advised choices. Not once does Chiara or anyone around her decide to get the hell out of dodge; instead, they repeatedly stick around and put themselves in situations practically designed to attract a masked killer. Abandoned houses and masked raves somehow become perfectly reasonable ideas, making it increasingly difficult to support a protagonist who seems determined to ignore every red flag placed directly in front of her. Unfortunately, this only gets worse as the film reaches its final act, where the slow-burn tension gives way to increasingly silly ideas and a generic masked-killer story with a weak motive. What starts as an intriguing and genuinely unsettling ride gradually unravels, becoming more disappointing with every questionable decision it makes.
Suffice it to say, The Influencer Project is a true mixed bag, with a timely premise and some genuinely effective tension unfortunately undermined by increasingly questionable decisions and a disappointing final act. Chiara King gives the film a committed central performance, while the found-footage approach and Copenhagen setting provide some welcome personality, but neither can disguise how familiar much of the story becomes. There’s enough here to suggest that Nybroe has some interesting ideas, but the film becomes increasingly frustrating as it progresses, with the promising set-up eventually giving way to something far more generic. There’s plenty to enjoy in the first half, but unfortunately, the problems become harder to overlook as The Influencer Project heads towards its conclusion.
'The Influencer Project' releases in cinemas on October 16, 2026.
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Becca Johnson
Senior Writer
Becca is a Rotten Tomato-approved freelance critic from Essex, UK, with a penchant for horror and coming-of-age.
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