The classic Home Alone movie is marking its 30th anniversary in 2020. Three decades down the road, it remains one of the widely-watched slapstick movies. Who can forget the farcical wet bandits trying to burgle the house only to be thwarted by Kevin’s homemade booby traps? While the traps worked, in reality they’re not as deadly as they’re portrayed in the movie. Check out the most dangerous booby traps in the McCallister family home. What did you make of them?
Paint Cans
Marv and Harry walk up their stairs to get to Kevin, but are thwarted by booby traps that send them tumbling back down. In this scene, Kevin uses 4-liter paints that swing from a top railing to knock back the burglars. The actual damage from the paint can isn’t explicit. With the weight swinging in a downward trajectory, Marv and Harry extremely lucky not have suffered severe injuries.
Red-Hot Doorknob
As Harry gets to the front door, he tries to turn the doorknob and get in. He’s not aware that Kevin has heated the doorknob using an electric barbecue lighter. And it’s red hot. Harry’s grabs the searing hot doorknob and it brands his palm with “M”. He jumps back screaming while trying to blow cold air on the scalded palm.
Similar to the basement stairs, the red door-knob isn’t as hot as to cause his hands to burst into flames. But he’d be lucky to stave off an infection as his palm heals.
Steam Iron
In this scene, Marv scrambles for the light switch. He frantically pulls a cord that he thinks would turn on the overhead light. Instead of the lights coming on, a hot iron falls down the laundry chute and hits Marv’s head. A four-pound steam iron dropping 15 feet down could have easily broken the bones around Marv’s eye socket, leading to a serious injury that would have made him partially blind.
Icy Steps
While the icy steps don’t seem like a deadly boob trap, the movie shows us just how potent this homemade trap is. Marv trips on the first steps of the basement stairs and tumbles down to the basement. Accidents of this type are fairly common and many people report falling down the set of basement stairs. Such a fall could hurt a person badly. Marv is lucky to get away with body pain and slight bruises that could heal in days. In the worst case scenario, he would have broken his jaw or end up with a broken backbone.
Tar-Covered Stairs
Marv attempts to get out of the basement by going up the interior basement stairs. Too bad. Kevin has smeared tar on the stars, which sticks to his shoes and socks. As he wiggles his way out, he steps on a nail barefoot. Oh the pain! While the nail may not be fatal, it’s likely to leave him with a wound that could cause tetanus, a potentially deadly disease if he doesn’t get a vaccine fast.
Treehouse Rope
At the movie’s climax, the burglars encounter what is likely to be the most dangerous trap. Kevin scales the treehouse that’s connected to their home using a rope. As Harry and Marv try to get at him, he cuts the rope sending them swinging and knocking the exterior brick wall. You’d expect the body impact to be serious but it just knocks them out.
Conclusion
Home Alone is a good-natured movie with dimwit burglars, slapstick humor. But the highlight has to be the farcical scenes where the burglars get stopped by simple booby traps. Farcical as some scenes are, Home Alone is a movie that keeps the family glued to the screen during the festive season.