Movies like this don't really get made anymore. Seriously. In an era where every single frame of a blockbuster is focus-grouped into oblivion, Bad Times at the El Royale felt like a middle finger to the status quo. It arrived in 2018 with a thunderous cast, a 1960s neon-drenched aesthetic, and a runtime that demanded you actually sit still and pay attention.
People didn't.
At least, not at first. The film basically cratered at the box office, clawing back maybe $31 million against a $32 million budget. That’s a disaster by Hollywood math. But if you look at the streaming numbers and the way people still argue about the "tapes" or Chris Hemsworth’s cult leader dance, it’s clear this movie has legs. It’s a puzzle box. It’s a blood-soaked morality play. Honestly, it’s just cool.
The Weird History of the Bi-State Hotel
Drew Goddard, the guy who gave us The Cabin in the Woods, didn't just pull the El Royale out of thin air. The hotel is arguably the main character. It’s split right down the middle by the California-Nevada border. This isn't just a quirky design choice; it’s a physical manifestation of the dual lives every character is leading.
If you stay on the California side, it’s $1 extra, but you get the warmth and the "sunshine." Nevada? That’s where the gambling and the loose morals live.
The real-life inspiration for this was the Cal Neva Lodge & Casino, which was once owned by Frank Sinatra. Just like the movie, the Cal Neva had a line running through it and a history of being a playground for the rich, the famous, and the incredibly shady. Goddard took that seed of reality and watered it with paranoia. The 1969 setting is crucial. The Summer of Love was curdling into the Manson era. The Vietnam War was a constant, low-frequency hum of trauma in the background.
Why the Characters Aren't Who They Say They Are
Think about Father Daniel Flynn. Jeff Bridges plays him with this heartbreaking fragility. You think, "Oh, here’s a priest losing his mind to dementia." Then the movie pulls the rug out. He’s a bank robber. He’s looking for a stash of cash under the floorboards.
Then you have Darianne (Dakota Johnson). She looks like a kidnapper, but she’s actually a sister trying to deprogram her sibling from a murderous cult. The movie is a masterclass in shifting perspectives. Every time you think you have a handle on the "hero" or the "villain," the camera moves, the scene restarts from a different angle, and you realize you were totally wrong.
Jon Hamm’s character, Laramie Seymour Sullivan, is the biggest bait-and-switch of them all. He’s presented as this loudmouthed Southern vacuum salesman. Within twenty minutes, he’s revealed to be an FBI agent tearing the walls apart looking for bugs.
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And man, the bugs.
The El Royale is a panopticon. There’s a secret hallway behind the mirrors where a voyeuristic management (or something deeper, likely the government) watches the guests. It’s a commentary on surveillance that feels even more pointed now than it did six years ago. We are all being watched, and we’re all performing.
That Infamous Mystery Tape
One of the biggest talking points—and honestly, what most people get wrong about Bad Times at the El Royale—is the identity of the person on the "incriminating tape."
The movie never shows the face.
We see a grainy image of a man who is clearly a high-level political figure. He’s dead by the time the movie takes place. Based on the 1969 setting and the way the characters react with a mix of awe and disgust, it’s heavily implied to be Robert F. Kennedy or potentially JFK. The tape shows him in a compromising position in one of the hotel rooms.
The brilliance of the script is that the content of the tape doesn't matter as much as what the characters do with it. Miles, the hotel’s tortured concierge (played by Lewis Pullman), has seen it all. He represents the soul of the hotel—broken, complicit, but desperate for some kind of absolution.
Chris Hemsworth and the Manson Parallel
When Billy Lee shows up, the movie shifts gears. It goes from a Hitchcockian thriller to a home invasion horror.
Hemsworth is terrifying here because he’s so... charming? He spends half the time shirtless, dancing through fields of flowers, and the other half casually deciding who lives or dies based on a game of roulette. It’s a direct riff on Charles Manson, but with the physique of a Norse god.
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Billy Lee represents the death of the sixties. He’s the guy who took the "free love" rhetoric and weaponized it to control young, vulnerable women like Rose (Cailee Spaeny). The violence in the final act is chaotic and nihilistic. It’s a stark contrast to the quiet, calculated tension of the first hour.
Technical Mastery: Why It Looks So Good
Seamus McGarvey, the cinematographer, shot this on 35mm film. You can feel the grain. You can smell the stale cigarette smoke and the rain-drenched pavement.
Most modern movies use digital cameras that make everything look too clean. Too perfect. Bad Times at the El Royale looks tactile. The use of color is deliberate—deep reds, sickly greens, and that harsh, flickering neon.
The soundtrack is another beast entirely. Cynthia Erivo, playing Darlene Sweet, sings most of her songs live on set. There’s no lip-syncing. When she’s singing to drown out the sound of Jeff Bridges sawing through floorboards, that’s her raw voice. It adds a layer of vulnerability that a studio recording could never capture.
The Problem With the Runtime
If we're being honest, the movie is a bit long. 141 minutes is a big ask for a chamber piece.
The pacing slows to a crawl in the middle of the second act. Some critics at the time, like those at The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, argued that Goddard was a little too in love with his own dialogue. They weren't entirely wrong. There are scenes that breathe for so long they almost stop the heart of the movie.
But for fans of the genre, that's the appeal. It’s a "vibe" movie. You aren't just watching a plot; you’re soaking in an atmosphere.
Is It Actually a Tarantino Rip-off?
This is the most common criticism. "Oh, it's just The Hateful Eight in a hotel."
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Sure, the DNA is similar. You have a group of strangers trapped in a single location, secret identities, and a nonlinear timeline. But Goddard has a different soul than Tarantino. Tarantino is about the "cool." Goddard is about the "guilt."
Every character in the El Royale is carrying a massive weight of sin. They are looking for a way out, not just of the hotel, but of their own lives. There’s a spiritual undertone to the film—the idea of Purgatory—that Tarantino usually avoids in favor of pop culture references and foot fetishes.
Critical and Commercial Reception
- Rotten Tomatoes: 74% (Certified Fresh)
- CinemaScore: B- (Which is actually pretty low, suggesting general audiences were confused by the marketing)
- Budget: $32 Million
- Global Box Office: $31.9 Million
The marketing was the real killer. The trailers made it look like a fast-paced action romp. When people sat down and realized they were watching a slow-burn character study with long stretches of a capella singing, they felt cheated. But that disconnect is exactly why the film has grown a cult following. It’s better than the ads said it was.
How to Appreciate the Film Today
If you’re going to watch it (or re-watch it), you have to treat it like a stage play. Forget the "action" labels.
Pay attention to the background. Look at the way the sets change as the night goes on. The hotel starts pristine and ends in flames, mirroring the internal states of the survivors.
Actionable Insights for Cinephiles
- Watch for the "Power Shift": In every scene, notice who holds the physical object of power (a gun, a bag of money, a tape). It changes hands constantly.
- Listen to the Lyrics: The songs Darlene sings aren't random. They reflect the emotional state of the characters in that specific moment.
- Research the Cal Neva: Looking into the history of Sinatra’s hotel makes the "secret tunnels" plot point much more grounded in reality.
- Compare to Goddard's Other Work: If you liked this, go back and watch The Cabin in the Woods. You'll see the same fascination with "people behind the curtain" controlling the narrative.
Bad Times at the El Royale is a reminder that sometimes, the best movies are the ones that don't fit into a neat little box. It’s messy, it’s loud, and it’s deeply cynical about the American dream. But it’s also undeniably beautiful to look at.
The next time you're scrolling through a streaming service and see that neon sign thumbnail, give it another shot. It’s a much better stay than the critics originally let on.
Check out the official trailers and behind-the-scenes footage on the 20th Century Studios YouTube channel to see the practical sets they built—they actually constructed a massive portion of that hotel on a soundstage in Vancouver. Seeing the scale of the build makes the final "burning" sequences even more impressive.