Bad Times at the El Royale [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray/DVD]

Director: Drew Goddard Drew Goddard

Overview

Seven strangers, each with their own dark past and secrets to hide, converge on the El Royale, a mysterious hotel sitting at the junction of California and Nevada. As the night progresses, the strangers - which include a vacuum salesman (John Hamm), a priest (Jeff Bridges), a struggling former singer (Cynthia Erivo), a Southern gangster (Dakota Johnson) and a charismatic leader (Chris Hemsworth) - find out that the hotel is not what it seems. Now they must survive one fateful night and find the redemption they so desperately seek - or die trying. Written and directed by Drew Goddard.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/01/2019
UPC:	0024543552994
Original Release:	2018
Rating:	R
Source:	20Th Century Fox
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:21:00
Sales rank:	3,653

Special Features

Closed Caption; Making Bad Times at the El Royale; Gallery

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jeff Bridges	Actor
Cynthia Erivo	Actor
Chris Hemsworth	Actor
Dakota Johnson	Actor
Jon Hamm	Actor
Cailee Spaeny	Actor
Lewis Pullman	Actor,Actor
Nick Offerman	Actor
Manny Jacinto	Actor
Jim O'Heir	Actor
Mark O'Brien	Actor
Kate Gajdosik	Actor
Synto D. Misati	Actor
Xavier Dolan	Actor
Katharine Isabelle	Actor
Alvina August	Actor
Jonathan Whitesell	Actor
Sarah Smyth	Actor
Charles Halford	Actor
Bethany Brown	Actor
Hannah Zirke	Actor
Tally Rodin	Actor
Sophia Lauchlin Hirt	Actor
Austin James	Actor
Billy Wickman	Actor
James Quach	Actor
Vincent Washington	Actor
Caroline Koziol	Actor
Austin Abell	Actor
London Morrison	Actor
Shark Nima Soltani	Actor
Minn Vo	Actor
Michael Giacchino	Composer
Shea Whigham	Actor
Jon Hammond	Laramie Seymour Sullivan
Gerry Nairn	Reporter Paul Kraemer
Rebecca Toolan	Helen Gandy
Charlotte Mosby	Young Rose Summerspring
William B. Davis	Judge Gordon Hoffman

Technical Credits

Drew Goddard

Drew Goddard	Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Jeremy Latcham	Producer
Mary McLaglen	Executive Producer
Lloyd Barachina	Stunts
Dan Brown	Stunts
Carmen Cuba	Casting
Prashant Sharan	Production Manager
Joel Whist	Special Effects Supervisor
Michael Harbour	Visual Consultant

Editorial Reviews

Not many films can demand your full attention for 141-minutes, let alone keep an audience entertained, but Bad Times at the El Royale does both. Set in the late 1960s, Drew Goddard's mysterious thriller follows the fateful day of 7 strangers, all who have checked in to the wrong place at the wrong time. This Tarantino-esque film focuses on its characters, giving them more than enough intrigue to keep an audience satisfied. Goddard's script and direction are spot on, allowing his talented cast room to make one of the year's best thrillers. Only hampered by a few pacing issues, "El Royale" knows how to tell its story, and in the end, it creates more questions than it ever answers. The El Royale is a unique setting; a once popular novelty hotel, the lodge is split right down the middle by the California and Nevada state line. A hotel that used to be frequented by celebrities and big shots, is now just a low-class budget offering. Owned by a mysterious "management" team, the El Royale is only run by one employee, deeply troubled Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman). Miles is a jack-of-all-trades type employee, who works as desk attendant, concierge, bartender, and everything in between. Traveling musician, Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo), vacuum salesman, Laramie Seymour Sullivan (Jon Hamm) an old priest, Father Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges) and a feisty "hippie," Emily Summerspring (Dakota Johnson), all arrive at the El Royale at the same time. Little did they know what type of night is ahead of them. Told in an episodic format, "El Royale" makes the smart choice of letting the characters do the work. Each character carries as much mystery as the last, and each chapter of the film reveals just enough to string the audience along. These people are all troubled, and have all experienced significant events that have led them to the El Royale on this night. Goddard never tries to take over the film with his direction, and his minimalistic approach pays off. By highlighting his characters, and the setting of the hotel (which is a character in itself), the film is able to progress almost effortlessly, with the exception of a few scenes that could have been cut. There are pockets of dull, slow moments, which are meant to build up tension, but seem to run just a bit too long. The acting in "El Royale" is top-notch, and thankfully so. Goddard needed a cast that could carry a film, and for the most part, everyone does. The only blemish in the cast could have been Johnson's performance, if only because she felt out of place in some of the most chaotic scenes. Chris Hemsworth, who plays Billy Lee, displays one of his best, and creepiest, performances of his career. The real star of Bad Times at the El Royale is the El Royale itself. Right from the start, the bi-state establishment seems like a shell of something that used to be great. A miniature ghost town that is clinging on for life. There is a sense of eerie charm that hangs over the El Royale for the duration of the film. It breeds an uncomfortable tension within its guests, which is only amplified as its secrets are uncovered. Goddard, an already accomplished screenwriter, has proved that 2012's Cabin in the Woods was not fluke, and he is here to stay as one of cinema's most interesting directors. Bad Times at the El Royale is one of those films that is worth multiple screenings, just to appreciate a master class in storytelling. The film respects its audience, and never comes off as pretentious or convoluted; it is just plain entertainment.