Bad Influence (2025) Recap & Ending Explained – Who is Reese's stalker?

The Review Geek

10-05-2025

Bad Influence Plot Summary
Bad Influence is a Spanish teen romance movie by the director Chloe Wallace. The story is about an ex-con, Eros (Alberto Olmo), who is hired by a wealthy businessman, Bruce (Enrique Arce), as a bodyguard for Bruce's daughter, Reese (Elea Rochera), from a mysterious stalker.
Eros and Reese are from disparate backgrounds. However, when Eros starts following her around everywhere, including to her prep school, where she is being bullied, a secret romance starts brewing.
What happens between Reese and Eros?
When the two are first introduced, Reese hates Eros, as he is proof that her father will always throw money at a problem, disregarding Reese's feelings. Eros dislikes Reese because she seems like just any other rich kid who does not appreciate how good they have it.
Eros is an orphan and grew up in a foster home. However, as they interact, Reese starts liking Eros as he takes her on risky adventures, making her forget the pressure she is experiencing from the bullies at school and the pressure to join a dance company. She is a ballerina.
However, Bruce finds out about their relationship and fires Eros. Reese and Eros do not contact each other when Eros leaves. One night, Reese finds Eros's sketch back in his old bedroom with unpleasant sketches making fun of Bruce, Reese, and all the other rich kids in Reese's circle.
Reese angrily texts Reese, so he goes looking for her to apologise. They make up, kissing in the rain, and end up having tender and steamy sex on Reese's bed.
Who is the stalker?
At first, it seems that the stalker is Reese's bitter ex-boyfriend Raul. He goes out of his way to humiliate Reese at school and parties. One time, he approaches Reese at the library and scatters her pens when she asks him to leave her alone.
At another party, he makes a presentation to explain how Reese is not beautiful and she only appears attractive because of the 'cheerleader effect.' Raul stalks her at school and gets angry when she does not answer her calls.
At his dress-up party, Reese and Eros sneak in to look for clues, but they only hear him talk about how there might be another person who hates Reese more than he does. The mysterious person might be the stalker.
On Reese's 18th birthday, someone sends a rock through her window, and she is forced to cut the party short. The next day, someone delivers flowers to her house, which she accepts excitedly, thinking it is a birthday gift from her father.
Reese is scared to find baby teeth in the jewellery box with a note saying that the stalker has known her since childhood. Then, her car is tampered with and bursts into flames in the middle of the road, but Eros gets her out. She is not hurt.
What do they find on social media?
Reese does not stop looking for the stalker even after they rule out Raul. She follows the lead to her birthday party, trying to figure out which one of the partygoers might have thrown the stone. Other than her school friends, the only other people at the party are Eros's friends, Peyton and Diego.
She deep dives into their social media and finds out that Peyton works as a cleaner at her school. The timeline of when she started working at the school aligns with when Reese started getting the extreme threats.
Reese tells Eros about it, but he does not believe that Peyton could be the stalker. Still, Eros asks Peyton about it. They get into an argument, and Peyton accidentally pushes Eros. He hits a kitchen cabinet and falls to the ground, unconscious.
Peyton starts to panic, but at the same time, Reese arrives at the house to talk to Eros. Reese is convinced Peyton is the stalker. Before leaving, Reese had texted her father that she knew the stalker and was going to Eros's house. Bruce follows her to the house, worried about her safety.
True to her suspicion, it turns out that the stalker is Peyton. She has a past grudge with Bruce regarding the death of her mother and Eros's parents.
What is Peyton's grudge with Bruce?
During Reese's birthday party, Eros had stumbled upon a photograph in Bruce's study that had his parents in the background. Eros does not remember what happened to his parents, but he was prepared for their deaths. It turns out that Peyton and Eros's parents worked as illegal immigrant workers at Bruce's restaurant.
One night after a party, Bruce was drunk, and he accidentally set the restaurant ablaze with a cigarette bud. The whole restaurant burned down, killing Eros's parents, Peyton's mother, and Reese's mother.
Since he was wealthy, Bruce managed to change the narrative, blaming Eros for the accident. Eros did not get convicted since he was only six years old, but the accident has followed him all his life. People call him 'the legend', giving different exaggerated tales of how he killed his parents.
How does Bad Influence end?
Eros distracts Peyton, who has a gun trained on Bruce and Reese, giving them a chance to escape. Peyton follows them and shoots, killing Bruce on the spot. After her father's death, Reese and Eros go on a long trip, evident from the voice notes her friends send her at the end of the film. Reese and Eros end up together.
Reese passes the audition and joins the dance company, bringing the movie to an end.