Home Alone has long been considered one of the most iconic and timeless Christmas films, and is still watched by millions some 30 years after its release. The festive favorite sees Kevin McCallister (
Macaulay Culkin) accidentally left behind at home when his parents and four siblings head to Paris for Christmas. The 1990 hit follows Kevin as he navigates life by himself, while fending off two burglars who target the McCallister home in a wealthy neighborhood. Like most movies,
Home Alone has a few continuity errors, as well as farfetched scenarios and plot holes that plague the film. There are also little known moments that viewers may not have thought about before. Here are some of the unknown facts that will blow your mind.
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| MACAULAY'S STUNT DOUBLE WAS A GROWN MAN. During the first and subsequent films, Macaulay's character takes on some incredibly daring stunts. Some of the riskier ones — including sliding down the stairs in the McCallister house into a snow mound and zip-lining from his tree house were deemed unsafe for a child. That’s when stuntman Larry Nicholas stepped in. The 30-year-old was around the same height as Macaulay, so he performed the more dangerous stunts. |
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CATHERINE O'HARA ACTED WITH A TENNIS BALL. Child labor laws prevent young actors from shooting past 10 p.m., so there were many times when Catherine O’Hara, who played Kevin’s mother, acted out her scenes to a tennis ball that represented Macaulay. Occasionally, director Chris Columbus would play Kevin off-screen, but for close ups a tennis ball would be dangled at Macaulay's height. |
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| POTATO FLAKES WERE USED INSTEAD OF SNOW. The weather didn’t cooperate when it came to shooting the Christmas film, so the crew had to come up with a creative way to create the snow-covered scenes. At one point in the film, Catherine O’Hara arrives home as a flurry of snowflakes fall the ground. In reality, they were potato flakes being blown by two big fans. While they looked great in the film, the crew say they became pretty smelly after a while. |
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| “ANGELS WITH FILTHY SOULS” ISN’T A REAL MOVIE. There's a black and white film that's played during Home Alone that spouts one of the movie's most iconic lines - "Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal.” However, fans were shocked to learn that Angels with Filthy Souls never actually existed before Home Alone was released. Kevin uses the film to scare Marv into diving behind the trash cans when he tries to enter the house during one of their break-ins. The film's star — Johnny the Tommy Gun-wielding gangster — was played by actor Ralph Foody. The film clip was especially created for Home Alone. |
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BUZZ'S GIRLFRIEND IS NOT ACTUALLY A GIRL. There's a scene where Kevin picks up a framed photo of his older brother's girlfriend and sarcastically says, "Buzz, your girlfriend: woof!” In reality, the girl in the photo is not actually a young girl. Director Chris Columbus thought it would be too mean to mock the appearance of a young girl, so he took a photo of the son of the film’s art director. |
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| THE AFTERSHAVE SCENE WAS A HAPPY ACCIDENT. One of the most recognizable moments of the film is when Kevin slaps aftershave onto his face. It turns out that the scene was 100% improvisation, not planned to happen as it did. Macaulay was instructed to pull his hands away from his cheeks before screaming. Instead, as he patted aftershave onto his face he shrieked and the crew burst into fits of laughter. The shot became Home Alone’s defining image. |
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| OOPS! A CONTINUITY ERROR. When Kevin sits down to eat his macaroni and cheese dinner, the camera captures a plate of macaroni and cheese. However, as chaos unfolds and just before Harry is covered in a mountain of feathers, the camera once again pans to the plate of food, but it’s clearly a different plate of food. |
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| THE PIZZA ORDER BLUNDER. It has been made clear that the phone lines are down, which is why Kevin is unable to make a call. Yet, he successfully receives a pizza delivery, without any indication of if or when the phones were restored. |
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| LIGHTSPEED FLIGHT. When the McCallister's take off from Chicago, it’s clearly morning. The flight to Paris takes 7-8 hours, and then the 7-hour ahead time difference has to be taken into consideration. With all this being accounted for, the family should have arrived in Paris around 1-2 in the morning. However, when the plane lands, it’s already broad daylight. |
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PREDICTING THE FUTURE. One of the plot holes in the film is that Kevin lays out a series of Christmas ornaments as an obstacle for the Wet Bandits. The ornaments are a key part of Kevin's battle plan as they are stood on by barefoot Marv who cries out in pain. However, there was no way for Kevin to know that Marv was going to take his shoes off once in the house. Despite this, it all worked out in the end as Marv went into the basement first, left his shoes on the stairs, and only then entered through the window.
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