And though there's hidden cash to be found for those who know to look for it, the hotel's real prize might be a dusty film reel that Miles has held onto for years. There's a secret hallway that allows anyone with access to spy on or film the various rooms' occupants. These four instantly distrust each other, and that distrust turns into nefarious plotting and then direct violence once Goddard starts to unravel the El Royale's mysteries. Not easy for a woman of color in that era. The final guest is Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo), a 60s-girl-group-style singer who just wants to perform and not have to put up with other people's bullshit. The second is the reveal that she has kidnapped a teenaged girl. Emily Summerspring (Dakota Johnson) writes 'F*CK YOU' on the guest list, the first tip-off that she's not in the best of the best of moods. Laramie Sullivan (Jon Hamm) is a vaccum-cleaner salesman whose eager-to-please personality feels like a bit of an act. There's Father Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a priest who seems more interested in what's buried under the hotel floorboards than spreading the word of God. As the movie starts, four strangers show up at nearly the same time asking for a room for the night. Now it's a neon-lit ghost-town (and a set designer's dream), short on guests and with only one employee - a clerk named Miles (Lewis Pullman) who'd rather get high in the back than work the front desk. But it's still a fairly entertaining Hitchcock/Tarantino mash-up that answers the question 'How much noir is too much noir?' by laughing devilishly and then shotgunning a man in the face.īad Times at the El Royale is set as the '60s fade into the '70s at a once extravagant hotel/casino that lost its luster shortly after losing its gambling license. The end result is a movie that's … well, it's not quite as great as a lot of the other stuff he's been involved with. As the writer-director-producer on the flick, I can only imagine that he considers it his bid to stand alone, to create a work that's fully his.

Which brings us to Bad Times at the El Royale, a film that is 100 percent Goddard's.

Some of that had to be thanks to Goddard, right? Pretty much all of these entertainments are worth you time.

Goddard was the first showrunner for Netflix's Daredevil and wrote the script for Ridley Scott's fantastic The Martian. It's also a movie that most people attribute to Joss Whedon, who co-wrote and produced it. He made the leap to the big-screen by co-writing and directing The Cabin in the Woods, which might be the best horror film released this decade. He was a writer for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Alias and Lost. Drew Goddard has had his hands in a lot of great stuff, which he mostly doesn't get credit for.

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