Summary

• Marv and Harry's injuries in Home Alone are both hilarious and painful, as they endure multiple falls, burns, and hits throughout the films.
• The slapstick comedy in the movies helps to balance the violence and keeps it from becoming too brutal or childish.
• Despite the comedic tone, the injuries suffered by the Wet Bandits would be horrific and potentially life-threatening in reality.

While the 1990 and 1992 films are considered classic Christmas comedies thanks to many slapstick moments, Harry and Marv's worst Home Alone injuries elicit as many winces as they do laughs. The Home Alone movies are beloved for being full of mischief, action, comedy, and heartwarming Christmas moments as young Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) outsmarts Marv (Daniel Stern) and Harry (Joe Pesci), two not-so-bright, albeit determined, burglars calling themselves the Wet Bandits. By creating an elaborate series of traps, Kevin is able to defend his home, and the many Home Alone injuries Marv and Harry suffer at his hands are as hilarious as they are painful looking.

Marv and Harry bounced back injury after injury, making serious life-threatening slips, hits, and burns appear as though they were simply brief painful inconveniences as opposed to incapacitating or deadly. Over thirty years later, both Home Alone and Home Alone 2 continue to make viewers laugh every holiday season. Both movies hit that right note of slapstick comedy that keeps the violence from seeming too brutal or too childish. However, that doesn't stop adults from dissecting Harry and Marv's injuries featured in both films. Many can agree that without the slapstick element, the Wet Bandits endure horrific pain and injuries in Home Alone to catch Kevin McCallister.

15 Knocked-Out With A Shovel

Home Alone (1990)

By the end of the first Home Alone film, Marv and Harry's minds and bodies have gone through a lot of trauma. They survived multiple falls, an iron to the face, a nail in the foot, a branding from a door handle, paint buckets to the face, a crowbar to the chest, stepping on sharp Christmas ornaments, and other humiliating injuries.

So, a shovel may not seem like much, but this is an old-school metal snow shovel meant to break the ice and deal with heavy snow. With enough force, Marv and Harry could easily have a concussion from Old Man Marley's attack. While this is among the least painful Home Alone injuries, there's no doubt it still hurt.

14 Stepping On A Nail

Home Alone (1990)

Marv stepping bare-foot on a nail is easily among the most painful Home Alone injuries, and Daniel Stern's performance as the hapless burglar hopping around in pain makes it one of the funniest too. After his shoes come off thanks to Kevin covering the basement stairs in glue, Marv steps on a nail and then crashes back down to the ground. While a nail to the foot may not kill a person, it is still a nasty wound. Plus, thanks to the number of nerve endings in the feet, it would have been extremely painful.

Keep in mind that Marv is already barefoot with tar, snow, dirt, and pieces of ornament going to be sticking to them throughout the night. A nail wound like Marv's will be prone to infection if not properly cared for, especially with how deep it goes. Feet are already the hardest parts of the body to heal because of all the sweat and grime, but add in the many veins and tendons that can be punctured down there and the result is a painful step. Of all the Home Alone injuries, this is the one most likely to cause long-term complications after the movie.

13 Air Gun To The Groin

Home Alone (1990)

The testicles are a notoriously sensitive area of the male body, though this hasn't stopped a character being hit in the groin being a staple of many comedies. Home Alone is no exception, and one of the funniest (and most wince-inducing, depending on the viewer) is when Kevin shoots Harry between the legs with an air rifle. Getting shot with a metal airsoft round may not be a bullet, but it is still potentially damaging. It could fracture one of Harry's testicles and, at such close range, it could have punctured the skin. There is a high chance that Harry is not going to be able to have kids after encountering Kevin.

12 Hit With A Staple Gun Three Times

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992)

One of the funniest Home Alone 2 traps Kevin left for the Wet Bandits was also among the most painful, as it ended with Marv having several large staples left in his face from an industrial staple gun. This would essentially have felt no different from getting shot with two nails at once, and Marv gets stapled in three different spots: the face, the rear, and the groin. All the factors of the air gun are also in effect with the staple gun, but the injuries to Marv's face and nose would cause even more damage. Marv would likely have trouble breathing, but thankfully, none of the staples seem to even cause a single drop of blood.

11 Burned Twice

Home Alone (1990)

Fire-based Home Alone injuries become a common theme with Harry, starting with his attempt to simply touch a doorknob. It was red hot thanks to being heated up by Kevin, which resulted in a hissing burn that could realistically result in Harry losing the use of his hand for several weeks. Undeterred, Harry tries the back door. He opens it only to trigger a blowtorch that burns his head to a crisp that is hilariously in the shape of a snowflake. The funniest part is that normal people scream when they get major burns, but Harry barely reacts after putting it out and just gets angrier.

10 An Iron To The Face

Home Alone (1990)

When it came to setting traps, Kevin McCallister sure did get creative, and few Home Alone traps showcase this better than Marv's Iron in the face injury. When Marv tried to pull the cable to turn on the light in the basement, he actually pulled the precariously positioned iron from its mantle at the top of the laundry chute. It's heavily downplayed for humor, but in the real world, an iron to the face would result in a fractured skull and shattered nose. There is even a high chance that the metallic pointed end could embed itself into Marv's skull, but instead, he just gets a red mark across his face.

9 A Crowbar To The Chest

Home Alone (1990)

This Home Alone injury wasn't directly inflicted by Kevin, though he did facilitate it thanks to tactful deployment of Buzz's pet tarantula. Marv got rid of the spider on his face, only for it to land on Harry, which makes Marv hit his partner with a crowbar an attempt to kill it. Although it was only one whack, it was a pretty hard blow to Harry's insides, possibly resulting in internal bleeding and broken ribs. There is even a chance of death when it comes to this Home Alone injury, since a blow that hard could rupture Harry's heart. At least it resulted in some of the funniest quotes from Harry and Marv across both movies.

8 Tumbling Tools

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992)

Kevin is a master of using tools as a weapon. He even hits Harry and Marv multiple times with tools throughout Home Alone 2, but this tactic reaches its ultimate form on the top floor. Harry and Marv are victims of a shockingly balanced tool chest that crushes them against a wall. The two of them were miraculously okay except for some temporarily wonky noses. To add to the tool-related injuries, Marv and Harry were also whacked by a swinging iron bar, which then proceeded to fall down the stairs and land on their fallen bodies.

7 The Iconic Paint Cans

Home Alone (1990)

The paint can trap is not only one of the best traps of the first Home Alone, but it is a deadly one. In real life, a heavy object made of metal hitting someone at a full pendulum swing could result in concussions, broken jaws, broken nose, and even death depending on where the paint can hit. Harry does suffer some permanent damage from this trap, losing his precious golden tooth as a result. However, this Home Alone injury would become so iconic that the pain can trap made a return in Home Alone 2, but with a welcome twist.

6 Landing On A Car From A Height

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992)

After stopping Harry and Marv from robbing Duncan's Toy Chest, Kevin lures them out onto a makeshift seesaw. Even though Marv was definitely not heavy enough to send Harry flying into the air, it's still fun slapstick that results in Harry landing on a car and collapsing the roof.

In real life, if Harry managed to generate that much power into his fall, Harry would be immediately hospitalized or even dead. Cars are not fragile, so it makes his wheeze of pain even funnier since he just lies there, likely in shock from the event.

5 Falling From A Burning Rope

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992)

As Marv and Harry are descending a rop in Home Alone 2, Kevin lights it on fire, and the two fall down through some wooden planks and land on concrete. Then, to cap it off, the Wet Bandits are covered in varnish. This is another Home Alone injury that is immensely played down because otherwise, this would have been a bloodbath of a trap. The fall alone would have killed the iconic criminal duo, but the varnish is the icing on the cake. However, somehow, they still manage to get up and chase Kevin through the streets of New York City.

4 Return Of The Blowtorch

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992)

In Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, Harry once again finds himself the victim of a blowtorch, but this time, he does an impressive handstand maneuver and places his head in the toilet bowl. Instead of water, there's kerosene, and an explosion occurs. This Home Alone injury somehow doesn't kill Harry, but instead burns him thus removing all of his head hair. This has become known as one of Kevin's deadliest traps in the Home Alone franchise. In actuality, Harry would never survive the explosion, let alone only come out with some burns. Of course, it is a slapstick comedy for the family, so realism wouldn't exactly work either.

3 Increasing Electrocution

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992)

Marv suffered even worse injuries in Home Alone 2: Lost In New York than the first film. However, one particular Home Alone injury in the second movie would have definitely killed him in real life. After sliding into shelves stocked with filled paint cans, Marv tries to clean himself up by going to the sink. Unfortunately for him, Kevin, the quasi-horror movie villain is there to provide the next level of defense. He turns on the arc welder rigged to the taps and increases the voltage as Marv is being electrocuted. If it weren't for the silly skeleton making it into slapstick, this would be considered one of the most gruesome traps Kevin has devised.

2 Bricks To The Face

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992)

Home Alone 2 starts its gauntlet of traps with a very memorable one as Marv is hit, not once, not twice, but four times with bricks. It'd be one thing if Kevin simply used it like a blunt instrument, but instead, he throws them down from a nearly forty-foot-high roof. Many viewers still consider this trap iconic for multiple reasons. Daniel Stern reacts to them in hilarious ways, especially when he's scared of the final one, but the biggest reason is that Marv would have dropped dead from the first brick alone, but he gets hit with four and comes out of the situation slightly dizzy.

1 Hit Twice With An Iron Pipe

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992)

This is another Home Alone injury that Harry and Marv should not have survived. Iron pipes are heavy-duty pieces of construction, and first off, there's no way Kevin could lift one of them. Still, if Harry and Marv were really hit with an iron pipe, the first hit alone would have killed them. Yet somehow they not only survive, but they also fall a good fifteen feet into the basement, then get hit again with the same pipe that falls onto them. Kevin is undeniably twisted in his methods but Harry and Marv surviving this trap is another level of hilarious and ridiculous, even for the Home Alone franchise.