Bad Times at the El Royale

The El Royale, once popular with the wealthy until losing its gambling license, is a hotel that straddles the California–Nevada border. In 1959, Felix O'Kelly hides a money bag under the floorboards of his room. His accomplice arrives and shoots him dead. A decade later, Catholic priest Daniel Flynn, singer Darlene Sweet, salesman Laramie Seymour Sullivan, and hippie Emily Summerspring arrive at the hotel, now run solely by heroin addict Miles Miller, and book separate rooms. Upon checking into the honeymoon suite, Laramie begins removing wiretaps but unexpectedly finds a second set as well. After stealing the hotel's master key, he discovers a secret corridor where every room can be observed through one-way mirrors and filmed with a camera. Laramie sees Darlene singing, Daniel removing the floorboards of his room, and Emily holding a young woman captive. In the parking lot, Laramie calls into the FBI, revealing himself to be Special Agent Dwight Broadbeck. He is instructed by J. Edgar Hoover to focus on his mission of collecting the surveillance materials the FBI had planted and ignore the kidnapping. Believing the mission has been compromised, Dwight is advised to prevent the guests from leaving. To do so, Dwight disables their cars. Daniel invites Darlene to join him for dinner in the hotel lounge. There, Darlene says she is practicing for a performance in Reno and Daniel reveals his memory is deteriorating. While he is getting drinks, she sees him spiking her beverage and knocks him unconscious with a bottle. Miles later finds and revives Daniel, telling him that he wants to undertake a confession but Daniel refuses. Miles, looking for the missing master key, leads Daniel to the secret corridor, explaining that he used to regularly film intimate encounters that he had to send to his superiors. Miles also admits to having withheld one incriminating film of a deceased public figure who had been kind to him. When Daniel leaves to evaluate said film, Miles witnesses through the one-way mirror Dwight attempting to rescue Emily's hostage, revealed to be her younger sister, Rose. When Emily kills Dwight with a shotgun, it also shoots out the mirror, exposing the corridor and injuring Miles. Before these events, Emily had forcibly removed her sister from a dangerous cult, led by Billy Lee. In the present, Rose secretly calls Billy to tell him where she is. A witness to Dwight's murder, Darlene tries to escape by car but fails due to his tampering with her vehicle. Daniel enters her car and reveals to her that he is Donald "Dock" O'Kelly, imprisoned since a botched armored truck robbery in 1959. Recently paroled, he arrived in disguise to retrieve the money hidden by his brother Felix, but due to his failing memory, he picked the wrong room and tried to drug Darlene to gain access to hers. To earn her trust, he offers to split the cash with her. They retrieve the money, but Billy and his cult arrive and take them, Emily, and Miles hostage. In a flashback, Billy preaches to his cult how people are forced to choose sides by getting Rose to fight another girl for the chance to sleep with him as Emily watches nearby. In the present, a compliant Rose watches Billy as he interrogates the group and finds the film, which he realizes is more valuable than the money. He forces Emily to choose a color in a game of roulette between her and Miles, and kills her when she loses. Before Billy completes another round of roulette, Dock attacks him, a melee ensues, and a fire spreads. When Darlene implores a shell-shocked Miles to help, he reveals that he served in the Vietnam War as a sniper. Miles picks up a gun and kills Billy and his followers, but a distraught Rose stabs him in the stomach before being shot by Dock. Darlene convinces "Father Flynn" to absolve Miles of the guilt over his wartime actions before he dies. They then toss the film into the fire and leave with the money. Sometime later, in Reno, Dock attends Darlene's soul performance at a casino lounge.