There are a lot of questions surrounding the 1990 classic holiday film Home Alone (aka “Lil’ Die Hard”). (h/t Nerdist)
For example, what the hell does Mr. McCallister do for a living that he can afford that house and a Christmas vacation to Paris for nine people? Secondly, why doesn’t Kevin just ask someone at the grocery store to call the police for him?
But the biggest question, and the one I’ve always wondered most about is this – How did those burglars survive the devastating physical damage perpetrated upon them by 8-year-old psychopath Kevin McCallister’s booby traps? I’m talking about damage so severe that Wile E. Coyote himself probably wouldn’t have survived.
Personally, I always found it disturbing how gleefully Kevin inflicted grievous physical harm upon Harry and Marv, a pair of inept home invaders who thought they were burglarizing an empty house. But Home Alone is a beloved holiday movie, so it would appear I’m in the minority. Audiences cheered as Kevin outwitted and tortured the two hapless criminals, attacking them with booby traps that were much more deadly than they might seem.
Were “Wet Bandits” Harry and Marv actually supermen, impervious to pain or serious injury? Or was their ability to withstand the kind of punishment normally reserved for unfortunate cartoon villains simply a matter of artistic license?
*****
Jake Roper and the team from YouTube science channel VSauce made a very cool video that addresses some of our lingering doubts. Using a recreation of the McCallister house, they tested out three of the traps:
The hot doorknob trick – It would have taken at least half an hour for the electric barbecue lighter to transfer enough heat to the exterior doorknob to achieve incandescence (about 1000 degrees F). But first it would probably melt the door or set it on fire, endangering the house itself more than the bandits outside.
The swinging paint can booby trap – This was pretty disturbing. Vsauce used a ballistic dummy to show how the swinging can would have probably crushed the bandits’ faces, caused massive brain damage, and perhaps even decapitated them. Pretty gruesome!
Crowbar to the chest – This would have undoubtedly have been fatal to Harry. As the recreation with the ballistic dummy shows, the blow would have broken through multiple ribs, puncturing his lungs and his heart. This is one you wouldn’t be likely to walk away from.
If Home Alone was a documentary and not a heartwarming holiday movie, Kevin would be locked up for life. And considering that he goes on to more commit more mayhem in Home Alone 2, it would have obviously have been for the best. He’s a cold-blooded killer!