Is Kevin From ‘Home Alone’ Actually Dead?

in Entertainment, Movies & TV

home alone

Credit: 20th Century

It’s officially December, which means if you haven’t already… it’s time to start watching some of the holiday classics to get in the holly jolly spirit! One of the most popular holiday films is Home Alone, starring Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, as he is unexpectedly left home alone after his family rushes out of the house to try and catch the plane for their upcoming vacation.

But what if we told you that Kevin may have been dead the entire time? And on top of that, if he is, in fact dead, it makes the entire movie that much better? Now, you may think this is too much of a stretch, but just keep reading. You won’t be disappointed.

home alone
Credit: 20th Century Studios

One Home Alone fanatic wrote about their “Dead Kevin” version on The Daily Beastand it is quite the read! The article starts off by explaining that Kevin was never meant to go on the trip to Paris with the family because, he is “a spirit who is tethered to the house”:

In the Dead Kevin version of Home Alone, the reason the extended family has gathered in the Winnetka house is that the next day, they’re all going to fly to Paris without Kevin, so they can get a little peace and quiet. Leaving him home was deliberate; nobody actually thought Kevin would join them on the trip to Paris, because he’s a spirit who is tethered to the house. Kate McCallister is the only person who reacts to forgetting Kevin the way a normal person would to forgetting a child. Her husband Peter is oddly calm, as are Aunt Leslie and Uncle Frank, who tries to comfort Kate by telling her that he forgot his reading glasses.

Kevin has an aversion to both the third floor of his house (“It’s scary up there!”) and the basement, where a menacing furnace calls his name. It doesn’t take a first-year Tisch student to point out that this pair of aversions represent Kevin’s refusal to leave the physical world of his house and ascend or descend to the afterlife.

The theory goes on to explain how Old Man Marley (Roberts Blossom) plays a crucial part in the “Dead Kevin” storyline, and how he actually protects Kevin’s ghost from the true devils, The Wet Bandits.

Disney Home Alone show
Credit: 20th Century Studios

When we first see Old Man Marley, he is is salting the sidewalks, an act which Buzz McCallister (Devin D. Ratray) claims implicates him in “mummifying his victims”. However, the reason he is salting the sidewalks in this theory is to keep the negative energy away. Both Kevin and The Wet Bandits, Marv Murchins (Daniel Stern) and Harry Lyme (Joe Pesci), can “defy physical rules”, implying that none of them are human.

Per the theory:

It’s possible that Old Man Marley is somehow Kevin’s otherworldly protector, attempting to keep the demonic Wet Bandits out of the neighborhood.

Later, as an emboldened Kevin attempts to leave the edge of his yard for the first time, he is thwarted by Old Man Marley, who appears practically out of nowhere and scares Kevin back inside, where he’s safe. Marley also appears when Kevin ventures past the edge of his yard for the first time the next day, as if to scare him back home again. On the night the Wet Bandits plan to rob Kevin’s house, Marley tries again to keep him safe, trying to teach him old-man lessons in a church. And it’s Old Man Marley who is finally able to fell the Wet Bandits with his shovel, after Kevin leads them through a series of hellish physical ordeals.

home alone
Credit: 20th Century Studios

And to tie everything together, the ending of the film says it all. Even after leaving Kevin home alone all this time, each family member just goes about their business after their immediate reunion, and as the theory states, “begrudgingly accepting their ghost boy’s presence in their home as a source of protection and not just a menace”.

The theory summarizes:

We’ve all seen the movie, so we all know how it ends: Kate returns home to find the house in pristine condition when it should have been a veritable Jackson Pollock painting made of burglar blood. Kevin embraces her. Seconds later, the family returns home, says hi to Kevin, congratulates him, and goes back to their rooms without much curiosity about what Kevin had done, begrudgingly accepting their ghost boy’s presence in their home as a source of protection and not just a menace.

And that’s why Kevin in Home Alone is dead.

home alone
Credit: 20th Century

So, what do you think? Does this theory make sense or does it ruin the movie? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

in Entertainment, Movies & TV

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