A priest, a vacuum salesman, a soul singer and a young woman with major attitude walk into a hotel.

It’s not a joke. It’s January 1969. Richard Nixon has been inaugurated as the 37th president of the United States, and a bunch of very different but equally lost souls converge on the El Royale, a once-glorious resort that has since fallen—like its visitors—into disrepute.

Situated on the border between California and Nevada, the El Royale is a little bit Hotel California, a little bit Vegas, offering warmth and sunshine to the west; hope and opportunity to the east. It also straddles the colliding worlds of past and present. Once the hotspot of Tahoe, where the country’s most famous celebrities and politicians comingled in and around the resort’s casino, bar, bungalows and pool, the good times have now come to a close.

Now, it really is BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE, and this film taps into the mysteries, secrets, and lies that the hotel harbours and propagates.

An intriguing pre title sequence sets up an historical precedent that prescribes the presence of Father Daniel Flynn, who is checking in for an exhumation rather than an exorcism.

Arriving simultaneously is soul singer Darlene Sweet, travelling salesman Laramie Seymour Sullivan, and hippie Emily Summerspring.

Hotel manager, Miles Miller, is taken completely off guard by these arrivals, just as audiences will be taken completely off guard by the sequence of events and unease that eventuates once these guests have checked in and taken up residence in their respective rooms.

There’s more than a modicum of masquerade with most of these characters and the reasons they’ve taken up residence at the El Royale are myriad and manifold.

BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE is blanketed in back story and rugged up in revelation.

The surprises unravel at furious and satisfying pace.

With a cast that boasts brilliant work from Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, Dakota Johnson and Chris Hemsworth, the show stealer is Cynthia Erivo as Darlene Sweet, matching dramatic acting chops with a singing voice to die for.

In tone and style, it’s a little bit Tarantino, a little bit Cohen Brothers.

Written and directed by Drew Goddard, BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE is a symphony of suspense and conspiracy, covert operations, criminal pursuits and crazy cults.

Better than anything on Netflix, BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE is a blast.