Fan theories are some of the most fascinating and potentially utterly absurd things on the face of this planet. They take a story and spin wild ideas out of it, nitpicking the most trivial of details and making it seem like a true conspiracy. I’m willing to be the writers are probably scratching their heads out of confusion.
Still, some of them are thoroughly entertaining and add a nice sinister twist to a story. Such is the case with Reddit user drewgarr who posits that John Candy’s character “Gus Polinski” from the children’s holiday film Home Alone is actually The Devil in disguise, intent on taking the soul of Catherine O’Hara’s “Kate McCallister”. You can read the theory below.
drewgarr‘s theory laid out (with some quick and dirty spelling and grammar corrections):
During a Christmas movie Marathon, I started rewatching home alone 1. The movie is filled with great memories and scenes, but one thing that I think has been overlooked is that Kate McCallister actually sold her soul to get home to Chicago .
First let me point out the scene about the 1:04 mark.
Notice in this scene, just as she says “If I have to sell my soul to the devil himself”, it is that we now see Gus take notice of Kate and approach her before the airline rep can further help her, in anyway possible.
So what makes me think he is the devil, or a deal demon? My evidence is the location. The Scranton airport. More specifically the crossroads located right at the airport. At this point I want to point out the myth regarding the crossroads demon. In a nutshell, it means that you can give an offering to the devil (in this case her soul) near a cross roads, the devil will show up and deliver it in exchange for the offering
It is after this scene that Gus offers Kate a ride to Chicago (to what she was willing to sell her soul for) to which she agrees to, essentially selling her soul. It is at this moment Gus smiles and points out to his friend renting the van, showing her he is honoring his side of deal since she already put up her side (already agreed to a ride for her soul). It is here where she says “Yes” and the next scene we see that she did in fact accept the ride
One last piece of evidence that I have found is Gus choice of instrument. Sure it’s not as obvious as a fiddle, instead it’s a woodwind instrument. There are some references in the bible that one of the instruments are created and favored by the devil (my understanding at least)
It is a bit of a silly one, but enough to make you think.
Meanwhile, user Honest_Coxy adds another interesting twist: “You could also add in the ironic twist of fate that usually accompanies dealings with the devil, in this case it is the fact that if she stayed in the airport she would have arrived home at almost the exact same time.”
What do you think? There are some interesting concepts here but, at the same time, it seems a bit too evil for a kids movie.