Bad Times at the El Royale

In the sweltering summer of 1969, four individuals with secrets to keep converged at the notorious El Royale Hotel: Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a charismatic Catholic priest with a penchant for deception; Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo), a sultry singer with a voice that could melt the coldest of hearts; Laramie Seymour Sullivan (Jon Hamm), a smooth-talking salesman who hid a more sinister identity beneath his charming facade; and Emily Summerspring (Dakota Johnson), a whip-smart beauty with a sharp tongue and an even sharper sense of morality. As they settled into their rooms, they were greeted by Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman), the hotel's lone employee, whose own secrets lurked in the shadows of his troubled past.

Sullivan, aka FBI agent Dwight Broadbeck, soon discovered a hidden passageway that led him to a network of one-way mirrors and 16mm cameras, giving him a bird's-eye view of each guest's activities. As he watched Daniel Flynn digging through the floorboards of his room, Sullivan also witnessed an apparent kidnapping in progress in Emily's quarters - a scene that sent his undercover instincts into high gear. But rather than intervening, Broadbeck received orders from his director (Hoover) to sabotage the guests' vehicles and allow the sinister plot to unfold unchecked.

Meanwhile, Flynn extended an invitation to Sweet for dinner, but her suspicions were piqued when she caught him drugging her drink. With a swift and decisive move, she knocked him unconscious with a bottle and made a hasty exit from the hotel. Miles, the hotel's sole confidant, found Flynn and revealed the existence of the secret passageway, explaining that "management" had instructed him to film the guests' every move for their own nefarious purposes. However, Miles had chosen to hold back one incriminating film reel - a revelation that sent Flynn into high gear as he demanded the hotel's dark secrets be handed over to him.

As the night wore on and alliances were forged and broken, the El Royale's corridors seemed to writhe with secrets and deceit, waiting to ensnare its unsuspecting guests in a web of intrigue and betrayal.

As Broadbeck's impulsive attempt to rescue Emily's hostage, revealed to be her younger sister Rose (Cailee Spaeny), ends in tragedy with his own demise, the hotel's corridors erupt into chaos. Emily's subsequent shooting spree claims another victim, Miles, who had been observing from behind a mirror, leaving him gravely injured. In the aftermath of the violence, Sweet makes a desperate bid to escape in her car, but is thwarted by the arrival of Flynn, whose true identity as Donald O'Kelly (a criminal recently released on parole after serving ten years for a botched robbery) is only gradually revealed. Having dressed in priestly attire to retrieve the cash his brother Felix (Nick Offerman) had stashed away before being brutally murdered in a double-cross, O'Kelly's failing memory renders him unable to recall which room the loot was hidden in. He had attempted to drug Sweet to gain access to her room, mistakenly believing the treasure to be buried there. The two form an uneasy alliance, agreeing to split the spoils between them.

Meanwhile, Emily and Rose, having discovered the corridor, subject Miles to a grueling interrogation about the surveillance operation they've uncovered. As the truth begins to unravel, it becomes clear that Emily has forcibly liberated her sister from a cult led by Billy Lee (Chris Hemsworth), a charismatic and sadistic figure responsible for a string of gruesome murders in Malibu. However, Rose's subsequent revelation that she had already alerted Billy to their location sets off a chain reaction of events. As O'Kelly and Sweet attempt to make their escape with the cash, Billy Lee and his cultists descend upon the hotel, taking the group hostage.

As Billy Lee orchestrates a sadistic game of roulette, claiming Emily as his next victim, O'Kelly seizes an opportunity during a brief power outage to strike back at the cult leader. Amidst the chaos, the hotel lounge erupts into flames. In the heat of the moment, Miles reveals his dark past as a Vietnam War sniper who took the lives of 123 people, prompting him to pick up a gun and exact vengeance on Billy Lee and his followers. Sweet's entreaties ultimately lead O'Kelly to absolve Miles of his guilt over his war-time actions. As the pair retrieve the cash, Sweet tosses the incriminating film into the inferno before they make their escape from the hotel.

In the aftermath, Sweet takes the stage in Reno for a performance, with O'Kelly proudly watching on as she sings her heart out to the crowd.