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15 Famous Movie Hosts

On our list, the folks in question host game shows, parties, and, yes, troublesome phantom entities.

The Host
Photo: Open Road Films

This weekend, a Stephenie Meyer adaptation will likely top the box office yet again, as The Host, based on the author’s only non-Twilight novel, lands in theaters. A supernatural, dystopian soap opera, the new film stars Saorsie Ronan as Melanie Stryder, the titular vessel for an alien life form that overtakes her body (things get especially tricky when possesser and possessee fall for two different strapping lads, played by Jake Abel and Max Irons). The movie got us thinking about other hosts in cinema, and we decided to keep the definition loose. On our list, the folks in question host game shows, parties, and, yes, troublesome phantom entities. Click on to see who made the cut.


Clue

Tim Curry in Clue (1985)

If memory serves, who Tim Curry truly plays in Clue is determined by whichever ending you favor most. Is he merely Wadsworth, the butler, or is he in fact Mr. Boddy, the mansion owner who invites Madeline Kahn and company to dine on monkey brains? Whoever he is, this suited Briton plays host and guide to the film’s sextet of suspects, who may not rock their nominal Parker Brothers hues, but show their true colors by film’s end.


Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Donald Sutherland in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

In truth, this 1970s remake doesn’t see Donald Sutherland become a pod person until its final moments, and Brooke Adams, who has much more screen time as Sutherland’s forever-changed girlfriend, might have made for a better pick. But nothing Adams does can top the eerie devastation of Sutherland’s transformation, which leaves Veronica Cartwright in shambles and the viewer clutching the armrest.


The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Jennifer Carpenter in The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

A film that gets some credit for predating the current rush of demon-possession flicks, The Exorcism of Emily Rose actually looks somewhat quaint in retrospect, a tame beast compared to derivative drivel like The Devil Inside. There’s nothing tame, however, about Jennifer Carpenter’s titular tormented lass, whose story is told in flashback and whose death begets a fact-based court case. Emily hosted not one, but six demons. How hospitable.


Tales From the Crypt

Ralph Richardson in Tales From the Crypt (1972)

Before there was the HBO series (and that nasty, dusty puppet), there was this British horror flick, based on the EC Comics series of the same name. In the movie, Ralph Richardson plays the Crypt Keeper, a hooded, enigmatic fellow who greets five strangers within catacombs and informs each of his or her manner of death. The explanations each spawn their own tale, making Crypt an anthology film with a Grim-Reaper-style guide at its center.

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Magnolia

Philip Baker Hall in Magnolia (1999)

Among the many tragic characters in Paul Thomas Anderson’s ensemble triumph Magnolia is Philip Baker Hall’s Jimmy Gator, the aging, ailing host of the fictitious game show “What Do Kids Know?” Jimmy isn’t aware that his program’s latest star player, Stanley (Jeremy Blackman), is an utter mess inside, just as no one knows that Jimmy has a lot of filthy secrets himself. A superior, serial side player, Hall might just do his best work in this dark, irony-laced dramedy.


Prince of Darkness

Susan Blanchard in Prince of Darkness (1987)

In John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness, a strange, sentient ooze is found to be the embodiment of the Anti-Christ, which proceeds to possess a group of metaphysics students locked in a research building. Kelly (Susan Blanchard) becomes the ultimate vessel, imbued with powers and attempting to aid the “Anti-God” in taking over the world. Kelly keeps looking for mirrors to serve as the Anti-God’s portal, which is funny, since she now has a face only Lucifer could love.


Cabaret

Joel Grey in Cabaret (1972)

An MC to put others to shame, Joel Grey’s inimitable host from Cabaret is one of cinema’s great supporting characters, easing the viewer into the sexy Kit Kat Klub, and periodically resurfacing as if to check in. Thanks, Joel, we’re enjoying our stay just fine in Bob Fosse’s bar-raiser, which, like Grey’s flamboyant crooner, shows others how it’s done.


Stigmata

Patricia Arquette in Stigmata (1999)

A spooky primer for her hit show Medium, Stigmata sees Patricia Arquette occupied by the spirit of a saint, making her possession notably non-sinister, but horrific nonetheless. This film is a somewhat unsung gem of the genre, and Arquette is compelling as the party girl turned messenger, who suffers the sins of Christ as the spirit tries to get its point across. Aiding the film’s credibility is Gabriel Byrne, who plays a priest that aims to exorcise Arquette’s demons…and also sleep with her.

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Virus

The Akademik Vladislov Volkov in Virus (1999)

Another oft-dismissed, late-’90s thriller, Virus stars Jamie Lee Curtis and William Baldwin as Naval crew members who, in the midst of a typhoon, get their Nostromo on and respond to a ship’s distress call. The ship, a Russian research vessel dubbed the Akademik Vladislov Volkov, is the true star of the show, as it’s been overtaken by an electric alien life force, beamed down via satellite. Thus the ship’s mechanics are under ghostly control, yielding cyborgian villains that aim to take out Curtis and company.


Johnny Guitar

Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar (1954)

In Nicholas Ray’s Johnny Guitar, Joan Crawford plays Vienna, the iron-spined saloonkeeper in an Arizona cattle town. She’s the hostess with the mostest, but things aren’t so rosy with the locals, who, at the urging of the instigating Emma (Mercedes McCambridge), eventually move to force Vienna out of town. Thank heavens for Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden), a mysterious stranger who helps Vienna face down Emma and her posse.


Best in Show

Fred Willard and Jim Piddock in Best in Show (2000)

The dog owners in Best in Show are stranger than fiction, but they may just be outdone by Fred Willard’s host and commentator Buck Lughlin, who offers off-the-wall play-by-play that’s hilariously uncomfortable. It’s great that writer/director Christopher Guest opted to pair Buck with Trevor Beckwith, the regular straight man played by poker-faced Jim Piddock. The pair’s exchanges make for some of the movie’s choicest moments, and lighten the weirdness of those mad pooch primpers.


The Hours

Meryl Streep in The Hours (2002)

Throughout her segment of The Hours, all Meryl Streep’s Clarissa Vaughn wants to do is host a party, the act that best distracts her from the pain in her life, and an act that, this time, will ultimately prove impossible. She’s bought the flowers (herself), she’s made “the crab thing,” but no amount of preparation will keep this occasion moving forward, not even if certain guests, like Jeff Daniels, tempt fate and show up way ahead of schedule.

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Network

Peter Finch in Network (1976)

He’s as mad as hell, and he’s not gonna…oh, you know the spiel. Peter Finch’s indelible turn as Howard Beale, the newscaster turned crackpot variety-show host, whose program, The Howard Beale Show, takes viewers by storm, remains a potent and prescient screen creation, the fictional forebear of Jerry Springer and other mic-wielding harbingers of doom. Prone to on-camera breakdowns, Beale is neither role model nor messiah, but he sure makes for good TV.


The Rules of the Game

Nora Gregor and Marcel Dalio in The Rules of the Game (1939)

Jean Renoir’s masterpiece, which takes place over a raucous weekend and ends with a bang, would be nothing without Christine (Nora Gregor) and Robert (Marcel Dalio), spouses and hosts of its central French hunting party. The progenitor of future uppity estate fare like Gosford Park and Downton Abbey, The Rules of the Game unfolds at Christine and Robert’s country house, La Colinière, and fills scene after scene with drama and farce.


The Exorcist

Linda Blair in The Exorcist (1973)

At this late stage, let’s just hope that Linda Blair has settled in with a good chiropractor. Because, as a preteen, she all but became a pint-sized contortionist, crab-walking on stairs and twisting her head every which way as Regan. The 12-year-old protagonist of The Exorcist, Regan has arguably become the most feared child in all of cinema, playing host to the devil himself, and wielding a vocabulary that would make Howard Stern blush. Make all the pea-soup jokes you want, but this little tot is scary as hell.

R. Kurt Osenlund

R. Kurt Osenlund is a creative director and account supervisor at Mark Allen & Co. He is the former editor of Out magazine.

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