Sure, the Home Alone movies stand as classics, thanks to their hefty dose of slapstick justice with heartwarming endings, but that’s where the official story of Kevin McCallister ends. Little did we know, however, about the horror that continued after the credits rolled. The poor kid is all grown up now, and he’s nursing some serious PTSD. In the premiere episode of the :DRYVRS web series, Culkin revisits his old role. Those emotional scars? They run deep.
McCallister relates how the “cutest f*cking 8-year-old in the universe” was forced to fend off psychopaths while his family left him alone for an entire week: “I couldn’t even eat a slice of pizza without going to war!” Decades later, he still awakens at night, drenched in sweat, with voices echoing in his rattled head. His disheveled appearance and manic stare reveal the chaos within the man who is still, at heart, a little boy trapped in a Christmas inferno. Need I remind you that McCallister returned to fight again in a sequel? Glaring plot holes aside, this guy never stood a chance at normalcy.
Fair warning: This gets really, really dark.
