The Home Alone movies are some of the most popular Christmas flicks of all time. However, they're also some of the most violent. They may carry family-friendly holiday messages, but each entry ends with the main character setting a bunch of painful traps for the dimwitted villains, who quickly regret trying to break into his house.
The most demented ones all lie in the first two films. These traps are so twisted that they belong in one of South Park's Christmas specials. As the franchise became more cartoonish, the pranks became much tamer. That's a real shame since the excessive violence and mean-spirited humor were part of the charm. It's all the more reason to look back at the first two Home Alone movies and appreciate the gleeful sadism from America's cutest traps expert.
8 Nail In The Foot
This one builds up for several steps (literally). Stuck in the basement, Marv attempts to reach the first floor. Unfortunately, the stairs are covered in tar, forcing him to abandon his shoes and socks. Whether Kevin intended this is anyone's guess, but it makes the whole ordeal more painful.
Kevin puts a nail on one of the top steps, impaling Marv's foot and sending the inept thief screaming back down to the floor. That would be bad enough, but the tar and other contaminants throughout the night could easily infect the wound. Marv's lucky he didn't need a prosthetic leg for Christmas.
7 Burning Scalp
This is when you start to question where Kevin gets his tools. It's not enough that Harry brands himself with a searing doorknob. Upon finally getting in the house, a blowtorch unloads on his head. The shock is so great that he can't even move; he just stands there screaming.
Thankfully, he has plenty of snow outside to put the fire out, but it's too late. Where once there was hair, there are now only third-degree burns. He had best get used to wearing his winter cap all year. Then again, it's partially his own fault for having such a delayed reaction.
6 Sic 'Em, Spider!
Desperate times call for desperate measures. As a last-minute distraction, Kevin puts his brother's pet tarantula on Marv's face. A prank like this will undoubtedly hit arachnophobes more, but it seems relatively tame until you consider the implications.
First, it turns the bandits against each other. Once the spider crawls onto Harry, Marv tries to swat it with his crowbar, whacking his partner in the gut. What's even more twisted on Kevin's part is the fact that this is his brother's pet. Creepy-crawly or not, a family pet is a treasured animal. Endangering such a companion shows that nothing is sacred to this little menace.
5 Bricks To The Head
The trap montage in Home Alone 2 wastes no time in getting to the fatal injuries. As Harry and Marv prepare to enter the condemned building, Kevin pelts them with bricks from the roof. True, it's not as elaborate as the other tricks up his sleeve. It's literally just a pile of bricks he chucks down at his enemies. That said, it's no less brutal.
Harry deftly avoids this assault, but Marv takes several shots to the head. Once the volley is over, the poor guy doesn't even know where he is. In reality, though, his noggin should be paste. Then again, if his brain was truly intact, he would have thought twice before entering Kevin's lair of torture.
4 Barred From Entry
A sequel generally aims to go bigger and better than its predecessor. This prank exemplifies that mantra. The first film saw Kevin pelt the baddies with tin cans as they climbed the stairs. They thankfully learn from this experience, dodging the cans in the second movie.
What they don't know is that Kevin has an extra projectile: an iron bar that smacks them both in the head. The impact knocks them down the stairs and into a hole. The demented kid then cuts the rope, causing the bar to bounce down and crush the crooks. Miraculously, Harry and Marv are still walking after this. They don't let little things like broken bones or fractured skulls keep them down, though they probably should.
3 Burning Rope Of Fire
Once his traps are all sprung, Kevin descends from the top of the building using a rope. Harry and Marv try to follow, but the rope is soaked in kerosene. This should have been a red flag.
It comes as no surprise when the twisted twerp sets the rope alight with a match and a devious grin. The bandits let go and tumble multiple stories to what--by all accounts--should be their doom. Kevin essentially trapped them between two awful outcomes. They could either cling to the rope and catch fire or fall to their deaths. A choice like that comes from someone who takes disturbing pleasure in the pain of others.
2 Shock To The System
One would think the city would cut the power to this old building, but no. Chalk up another strike for inept New York leadership. This place has ample juice to not only keep the lights on but also to shock intruders into submission. Marv learns that the hard way when he attempts to clean the paint off himself (courtesy of a previous prank).
As he goes to turn on the sink, he meets with a few thousand volts. The charge prevents him from letting go, so all he can do is stand there and take the pain. What's even more sadistic is that Kevin is right there, slowly turning up the voltage. By the end, Marv is reduced to a whimpering mess. It's a wonder he's not a vegetable at this point.
1 Kerosene Swirlie
Here's another follow-up, this time to the blowtorch trap. As Harry proceeds through the rundown New York building, he stupidly keeps turning on the lights, knowing that they could be booby-trapped. Just as he's lured into a false sense of security, one of them sets his head alight once again. He doesn't feel it at first, likely due to the damage sustained the year before.
The mirror allows him to spot the blaze, and he naturally wants to put it out. Sadly, he's short on snow, and the water doesn't work. He finally turns to the toilet. Kevin predicted this and filled the pot with kerosene beforehand. The resulting explosion is brighter than any Christmas light. More than any other trap, this should have left Harry as a charred corpse.