See the Damage Those Home Alone Booby Traps Would Do in Real Life

If you remember one scene from the 1990 classic Home Alone, chances are it's the climax. Kevin McCallister fulfilled the fantasies of countless kids when he protected his home from bad guys using fire, blunt objects, and a strategically placed tarantula. But according to a new video spotted by Nerdist, the film would have been much darker than your average holiday flick if it had stayed true to the laws of physics.

For its investigation, the YouTube team Vsauce chose three Home Alone hazards to recreate in real life: the red-hot doorknob, the paint cans to the face, and the crowbar to the chest (which was actually inflicted on Harry by his partner Marv).

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In the movie, Kevin is able to heat his home’s exterior doorknob to a hand-searing state by placing an electric BBQ lighter on the inside. Given that metal has to reach about 1000°F before it starts glowing, this would be pretty difficult to achieve. Even if it was possible to transfer that amount of heat across the door in a few hours, it would likely cause the foam and wood inside to combust.

The paint can pendulums are also more destructive than the movie lets on. With a push from Kevin at the top of the stairs, a 13-pound can of paint would fly toward the villains’ faces at 20 MPH. Vsauce tested the impact this would have on the head of a ballistic dummy, and it doesn’t look like something the bandits could recover from in time for the film’s conclusion. And if they somehow managed to survived all the booby traps leading up to that point, a crowbar to the chest would put an end to Harry’s breaking and entering days for good. Good thing the actors had the help of stunt doubles and special effects while filming.

To see the tests in action, check out the video below.