With the release of Jigsaw just before Halloween, the Saw franchise got its eighth movie since the first film was released in 2004. But what if we told you there's a theory that the series first began some 14 years before that, when poor little Kevin McAllister was left to fend for himself in his parents' house?
Yes, that's right. Kevin McAllister. From Home Alone. It's one of the greatest Christmas movies ever made - and one of the funniest too - but there's someone who thinks that something truly sinister lies behind the inventive traps that Kevin, played by Macaulay Culkin, sets for the thieves intent on robbing his family's home.
Yes, according to Jason Concepcion, Chris Columbus' classic Christmas caper is the story of how the Jigsaw Killer came to be. Don't roll your eyes just yet. Here are some of the pieces of evidence that show perhaps the theory isn't quite as off the wall as it initially seems.
Credit: 20th Century Fox
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According to Concepcion: "Throughout Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Kevin displays anger-control issues, a proclivity for violent fantasies, and voyeuristic tendencies, combined with a fetish for recorded video."
Go on...
"Kevin experiences frequent realistic visual and auditory hallucinations, seeing the furnace in the basement as a ravenous fiery-mawed monster. This particular symptom of his psychosis would become important to his methodology as the serial killer Jigsaw."
Ummm, okay. We're still listening.
"In Saw II, Kevin/Jigsaw re-creates his childhood basement right down to the furnace monster. Jigsaw places the antidote to a poison inside the furnace, luring his victim inside. When the victim grabs the antidote, the furnace door shuts, and the victim is burned alive."
Yeesh. There are a whole host of other incidents, too. Both characters clearly take delight in rigging ingenious contraptions designed to injure other people, but there's also a moralistic undertone to both of their actions. Well, sort of.
Credit: 20th Century Fox
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That said, in 2012, Dr. Ryan St. Clair of the Weill Cornell Medical College was asked to assess the injuries incurred by burglars Harry and Marv at the hands of Kevin McCallister's Home Alone inventions and concluded that Kevin "has moved from 'defending his house' into sheer malice." Which makes him becoming a sadistic serial killer less of a surprise, I suppose
If that's not enough to convince you, then how about this? While scouring the Home Alone films frame by frame for more evidence, Concepcion found this intriguing piece of evidence:
Credit: 20th Century Fox
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Could that creepy-looking toy clown have provided Kevin with the inspiration for his Jigsaw Killer alter-ego?
Okay, so it's probably all a load of bollocks, but it's an entertaining theory nevertheless. And if it leads to some crossover Home Alone/Saw flick in the future, you know what? We won't be disappointed.
Words: Mischa Pearlman
Topics: TV and Film, Home Alone