When the weather is like it is at the moment, it's hard to imagine thinking about Christmas movies, but let me make this worth your while. We all know Internet fan theories are a regular source of absolute gold, and boy, is this a doozy.
Home Alone is no stranger to fan theories - that Kevin is the killer from Saw, that Old Man Marley is Kevin in the future, that Gus Polinski is Satan - but this one might top the lot.
So what's the theory, I hear you ask? Quite simply, it's that Kevin's dad, Peter McAllister, is a criminal.
Redditor Cubanesis is the brains behind the theory, so I'll cede the floor.
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"First, the very first time we see Peter is when Harry is dressed as a cop scoping the place out," they write.
"Peter is WAY defensive in this interaction. All Harry does is ask if he's the owner of the house and Peter jumps straight to 'Am I in some Kind of trouble officer?' The look in his face is on edge the whole time he's talking to Harry.
"Secondly, we never find out what he does. They don't mention where he works, or his background, or anything.
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"Now in the the book adaptation of the movie they say something about him being in 'business'. That's pretty vague. But Peter makes enough money to have a wife that doesn't work and like five kids. He also has a house that is worth like 1.5 million."
Good point, and an issue that has kept fans guessing for years now. What does Peter do for work anyway?
But Cubanesis is far from done. "This bring me to my next point," they continue. "Harry calls the McCallister house 'The Silver Tuna', the big score, etc.
"They [bungling burglars Harry and Marv] specifically target this neighborhood for the McCallister house. When we see in the house there's nothing particularly valuable looking around.
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"We don't ever see them mention jewels, or a safe or anything like that, but still this house that Harry has only seen the entryway to is THE HOUSE to rob.
"This might have just been a remnant of the original story line where Uncle Frank hired Harry and Marv to rob the place, but without that abandoned story line, why are they targeting that house specifically?"
Hmm, interesting stuff. But this is providing more questions than it answers - true, some of these details seem sketchy, but do they necessarily paint a picture of a criminal mastermind? Throw us a bone here.
To finish, Cubanesis refers to the second Home Alone film, bringing up a very salient point.
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"Remember how much cash was in his bag that Kevin ended up with?" they ask.
"He had thousands of dollars in cash. The early 90s were the time of travellers checks, plus they weren't leaving the country, so there wasn't a ton of reason to bring that much cash, unless you're a criminal who deals in cash."
Touché, Cubanesis. You've got us there. Still some work to do in the proof stakes, but if you're right, expect a certain Chicago businessman to take a hit out on you in the very near future.
Featured Image Credit: 20th Century FoxTopics: TV and Film, Reddit, Home Alone