One of the essential movies to include in your Christmas movie marathon every year is Home Alone, and this year, we have a list of interesting details that you may have missed, but you can be on the lookout for this time around.
Getting in the Christmas spirit is important, and what is a better way to that than to watch Christmas movies? Home Alone is one of the Christmas classics that plays on cable TV nonstop this time of year, featuring Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, an eight year old child that was accidentally left behind when his family rushed off on vacation. While he’s home, two bumbling burglars — played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern — attempt to rob his house, and Kevin dutifully defends his family’s property with a variety of boobytraps.
While you may have seen this movie many times, there are a few small details you may have missed that were uncovered and listed by Buzzfeed.
Hidden Details
1. There is a surprising amount of setup at the beginning of the film for Kevin’s boobytraps later on. One example included by Buzzfeed was Mr. McCallister telling Kevin to pick up his Micro Machines because “Aunt Leslie stepped on one and almost broke her neck.”
Of course, this is pretty much exactly what happened to the bumbling burglars, Harry and Marv, later in the film.
2. Here’s another setup for a trap used later in the film. Mrs. McCallister tells her husband that Kevin was “in the garage again playing with the glue gun,” which is the same glue gun Kevin uses later in the movie to cover the plastic wrap with glue.
3. Yet another setup, as Kevin talks about “making ornaments out of fishhooks.” Later in the film, Kevin strategically places those ornaments on the floor directly below a window where Marv steps on them… barefoot.
4. Buzzfeed points out a very interesting fact (something the radical leftist propaganda outlet doesn’t do often):
“Apparently, everybody expects Kevin to burn the house down. When Kevin’s dad reprimands him for using the glue gun, Kevin responds, ‘Did I burn down the joint? I don’t think so.’ And at the end of the movie, when his family returns, Buzz tells Kevin, ‘It’s pretty cool that you didn’t burn the place down.'”
It’s actually kind of surprising, considering the fact that the eight year old kid was home alone setting up elaborate tricks (many of which could have caused a fire).
5. This is something that most of us definitely didn’t notice before. Kevin’s plane ticket and passport are accidentally thrown out at the beginning of the movie, after the spilled milk incident. This explains why no one initially notices that Kevin isn’t on the flight.
6. This part is a bit confusing. According to Buzzfeed, “There’s a dummy of Uncle Frank sitting all alone and doing nothing in the background here. It is possible that it’s not a dummy, but the figure NEVER MOVES AN INCH during this scene. Also, Uncle Frank is supposedly watching a movie with the older kids at this time (remember, Kevin isn’t allowed to watch?!) — and he’s clearly not doing that here. Not to mention, Uncle Frank comes down from upstairs just a few moments later when the pizza arrives.”
7. In order to make his trick on the pizza delivery guy believable and effective, Kevin dragged massive speakers into the kitchen.
8. Continuity Error! A red Christmas bow goes flying off of a lamp post during the storm just magically reappears back on the post a few seconds later. It is gone for the rest of the movie after that little error, though.
9. When Kevin’s dad is trying to remember what he forgot, he recalls leaving the garage doors open. The funniest thing is, he’s right, AND the cars aren’t even pulled all of the way in to the garage.
10. Kevin’s mom packed all of his stuff for the trip, but forgot him. This is pointed out when Kevin can’t find his toothbrush.
11. The “robe” that Kevin uses in order to disguise himself in the nativity display was just a curtain that was pulled down from the display…
12. (Continued from the previous point) … Someone at the church apparently fixes the display soon after, because the curtain is hanging back up again when Kevin returns.
13. Kevin took the Michael Jordan cutout from Buzz’s room, cut the basketball out of it, and had to put Jordan’s arm back together with tape…
14. Continuity Error! (Continued from previous point) … later in the movie, the poster appears back in Buzz’s room again, all put back together. Maybe Kevin fixed it so his brother wouldn’t kill him.
15. Another setup from the beginning of the film, several of the mannequins that Kevin uses for the makeshift “party” are shown in the basement.
16. If you look really REALLY closely (probably better in the actual film than a screen grab), you can see what looks like tiny white rocks — or possibly grains of rock salt — being thrown at the spider to make it move across the bathroom.
17. Continuity Error! When Kevin is buying groceries at the store, you can see that he bought a container of Tide detergent. On his walk back from the store, the bags break, and everything falls on the ground. The only thing missing is the detergent.
18. Buzzfeed discovered the secret to how the bags ripped, writing: “And in case you’ve always wondered, the bags breaking gag was achieved with string, which you can see if you look closely enough.”
19. Apparently, in one scene that takes place in Kevin’s imagination, the furnace says “Hello Kevin!”
20. Continuity Error! Kevin’s mac ‘n’ cheese dinner completely changes in appearance from scene to scene when Harry enters the dining room.
21. Some people questioned why there was a doggy door in the house, but no dog ever appears in the movie, even before the family leaves for vacation. That is because the McCallister family had already brought their pup to a kennel for the trip.
22. Finally — and this is something that surprises a lot of people — apparently, Harry is married.
