Since being released 30 years ago, Home Alone has been a favorite classic movie in many homes, especially during the festive season. It shows two burglars trying to break into the McCallister home only to be thwarted by an 8-year old who’s left behind. What does he use to stop the burglars? Over a dozen homemade booby traps. Here we take you through some of the potentially deadly booby traps used in the McCallister’s home.

The fake light bulb

On breaking into the basement, Marv goes looking for the light switch. He sees what appears to be a switch and pulls it. Instead of the overhead light coming on, a hot iron box drops through the laundry chute and hits him right on his face.  Even if the iron box were to fall from seven feet in real life, Marv would still end up with a broken eye socket and damaged eye.

 The hot doorknob

Harry goes to the front door and tries to open it. Too bad. He doesn’t know that Kevin had heated the doorknob from the inside, making it very hot. It ends up burning Harry on the hand and leaves a mark “M” from the doorknob. Just looking at how hot the doorknob is, Harry’s lucky to escape with a burn. In real life, a hot doorknob would have burnt his hand completely. Or he would have gotten an infection.

Staircase covered with tar

Marv was trying to get out of the basement through the stair, not knowing that Kevin smeared it with tar. The tar sticks on Marv’s shoe, and he takes them off, thinking he can go up only to step on a nail with his barefoot. The danger in this scene may not be instant, but it is still a deadly booby trap. If the nail were rusty, Marv would have easily contracted tetanus if he had skipped the vaccination.

Staircase fall

The danger involved in this booby trap may not look serious, but icy steps are deadly. In this scene, Marv slides and falls from the first staircase to the bottom. Staircase falls are some of the most reported cases. In this case, Marv would suffer from serious injuries such as back pains and head injuries, which could potentially lead to death.

Paint cans

Marv and Harry decide to go upstairs to get a hold of Kevin, but he stops them by swinging paint can. On releasing the paint can, it hits the heads of both burglars. You can only guess what would have happened to both thugs if Kevin had swung the can of paint with more vigor. They’d be lucky to escape with head knocks instead of traumatic head injuries such as cracked skulls.

Rope on the treehouse

Kevin gets to the treehouse that is connected to the main house using a rope. Marv and Harry try to go after him using the same rope.  Kevin waits for a moment then brings out the pruning shears and snips the rope. The two burglars swing and hit the brick wall of the main house. In actual life, the impact alone would have broken their bones or ribs, and the fall left them with lifelong injuries.

 Conclusion

As humorous as some scenes appear, the booby traps Kevin deploys in Home Alone aren’t a laughing matter in real life. Some of the traps are deadly. But we all laugh at the cat-and-mouse games and the slapstick. Next time you watch Home Alone, think of how anyone can walk out with a straight face after getting hit with a four-pound steam iron.