Entertainment
Home Alone’s ‘Wet Bandits’ are medical miracles
How did the Wet Bandits survive Home Alone? A trauma-focused breakdown of the head, neck, burn and electric injuries they’d actually face.
Last Updated on March 8, 2026 by Daily News Staff
Adam Taylor, Lancaster University
The festive movie season is upon us, and one of my perennial favourites is Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. I will die on this hill: it is better than the original. But rewatching it as an adult raises an awkward question. How on earth did the Wet Bandits survive the first film at all, let alone escape without lasting injuries?
Ten-year-old Kevin McCallister, the boy left home alone, sets up traps that are played for laughs, but many involve levels of force that would be catastrophic in real life. A 100lb (45kg) bag of cement to the head, bricks dropped from height, or heavy tools swung at the face are not things a human body can simply shrug off. High-impact trauma to the head and neck rarely ends well.
To understand why, it helps to know a little about skull anatomy. The skull has a protective “vault” that encases the brain, while the bones of the face contain hollow spaces called sinuses. These spaces reduce the weight of the skull but also act as a biological crumple zone, helping to absorb force and protect the brain during impacts. But that protection has limits.
A rough calculation of the forces involved when a 100lb bag of cement strikes the head suggests instant fatal injury. The neck simply cannot absorb that level of force. To put that in perspective, research shows that the cervical spine suffers severe damage above about 1,000 newtons of force. A 100lb (around 45kg) cement bag already exerts roughly 440 newtons under its own weight, and when falling, it decelerates over a very short distance on impact.
While the exact force depends on the height of the fall and how quickly the bag comes to a stop, even conservative assumptions place the impact well above 1,000 newtons, easily exceeding thresholds for catastrophic neck injury.
Beyond that, there is a high risk of brain herniation, where swollen brain tissue is forced into spaces it does not belong. This can compress areas that control breathing and movement, often leading to coma and death.
Head injuries are only part of the problem. Many of Kevin’s traps would also place enormous stress on the chest and major blood vessels. Falling forward from a height, being crushed by heavy objects, or being struck in the torso can cause severe internal injuries. These forces are commonly seen in high-speed, head-on car crashes. In extreme cases, the impact can rupture the aorta, the body’s main artery, which is almost always fatal.
Crush injuries elsewhere in the body can have serious and life-changing consequences. Even if they are not immediately deadly, they can cause internal bleeding that worsens over hours or days. Broken ribs, for example, can puncture the liver, kidneys or spleen, allowing blood to leak slowly into the abdomen. Damage to soft internal organs can also lead to infection, organ failure, or delayed death, depending on the severity.
Then there are the less obviously lethal moments. When Marv crashes into a shelf stacked with paint tins and the shelf falls on him, the impact alone could cause serious internal injury. And paint splashed into the eyes could cause chemical burns and blindness.
Simple slips and falls are not harmless either. The bones at the back of the skull are only about 6–7mm thick. A hard blow here can cause bleeding inside the skull. These brain bleeds do not always show symptoms immediately and may worsen over hours or days after what seemed like a minor bump.
Electricity is another recurring gag that would be anything but funny in reality. When Marv grabs the taps attached to an arc welder, he is exposed to electrical current that causes his muscles to contract uncontrollably. This is why people who touch live electrical sources often cannot let go. The current overrides the body’s normal nerve signals. Prolonged exposure increases the risk of disrupting the heart’s normal rhythm, potentially triggering cardiac arrest. https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZfuAyYoc94A?wmode=transparent&start=0
Despite what cartoons suggest, electricity does not make the skeleton visible – as we see happen to Marv. There is no X-ray radiation involved. To expose bone, you would need extremely high-voltage current, causing fourth-degree burns, which destroy skin, muscle and bone.
Piercing injuries also feature heavily. A nail through the foot is not just painful. It can damage nerves and soft tissues, fracture bones, and introduce bacteria deep into the wound. This raises the risk of serious infection, including tetanus.
Finally, there is Harry’s infamous blowtorch scene. Being set alight for 22 seconds is more than enough time to cause permanent nerve damage, potentially destroying pain sensation altogether. While scalp skin is among the thickest on the body, it has relatively little cushioning underneath. This makes the underlying tissue and bone more vulnerable to deep burns, reaching third or even fourth degree severity, which can be lethal.
Add combustible kerosene to the mix and the risks escalate further. Exposure is linked to kidney damage, heart problems, central nervous system depression and serious respiratory issues.
In short, Harry and Marv are walking medical impossibilities. Surviving a second round of Kevin McCallister’s festive booby traps would require extraordinary luck, immediate trauma care, and months of rehabilitation. Even if they appeared outwardly fine, the internal damage would probably be devastating. Perhaps those lingering injuries explain why the Wet Bandits never made it back for another sequel.
Adam Taylor, Professor of Anatomy, Lancaster University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Forgotten Genius Fridays
Octavia E. Butler: The Black Woman Who Helped Change Science Fiction
Discover how Octavia E. Butler transformed science fiction, explored Black identity, and helped shape Afrofuturism through her groundbreaking novels.
Forgotten Genius Friday | The Knowledge | STM Daily News
Octavia E. Butler: The Woman Who Reimagined the Future
When we think about science fiction, we often picture spaceships, robots, alien civilizations, and futuristic technology. But what happens when science fiction becomes a way to explore racism, inequality, human survival, and the consequences of our choices?
That is exactly what Octavia E. Butler brought to the genre.
Long before Afrofuturism became a widely recognized cultural movement, Butler was creating extraordinary stories that placed Black characters—especially Black women—at the center of imagined futures.
Her work challenged conventional ideas about who could be a hero, whose experiences mattered, and what science fiction could accomplish.
A Young Girl With a Powerful Imagination
Octavia Estelle Butler was born on June 22, 1947, in Pasadena, California.
Raised primarily by her mother and grandmother after her father’s death, Butler grew up shy and found comfort in books and storytelling.
Her mother worked as a domestic employee, and Butler sometimes accompanied her to work. Those experiences exposed her to the racial and economic inequalities that would later influence her fiction.
As a child, Butler loved science fiction, but she noticed something missing: people who looked like her.
Rather than accepting that absence, she began creating stories of her own.
She would eventually become one of the most influential writers in speculative fiction.
Breaking Barriers in Science Fiction
During the 1970s, mainstream American science fiction was largely associated with white male writers and protagonists.
Butler entered that literary world with a different perspective.
Her first published novel, Patternmaster, appeared in 1976. It introduced readers to a world shaped by extraordinary mental abilities, social hierarchies, and struggles for power.
Butler continued developing complex stories that explored humanity’s relationship with authority, identity, biology, and survival.
In 1979, she published one of her best-known novels, Kindred.
The book follows Dana, a Black woman living in 1970s California who is repeatedly transported back to a Maryland plantation before the Civil War.
Through Dana’s experiences, Butler forced readers to confront the brutality of American slavery and its continuing influence on the present.
Rather than treating history as something safely confined to the past, Kindred makes that history immediate and deeply personal.
Imagining the Future—and Warning Us About It
In 1993, Butler published Parable of the Sower, a novel set in a collapsing American society struggling with economic inequality, environmental destruction, violence, and weakened institutions.
Its central character, Lauren Olamina, is a young Black woman who develops a philosophy called Earthseed while searching for a way to survive and build a community.
The novel takes place beginning in 2024, making its imagined future particularly striking to modern readers.
Butler followed it with Parable of the Talents in 1998, continuing her examination of social instability, religious extremism, authoritarianism, and the struggle to create a better future.
Her novels were not literal predictions. They were works of speculative fiction that used recognizable social trends to ask difficult questions about where humanity might be headed.
Octavia Butler and Afrofuturism
Afrofuturism brings together African and African diasporic experiences with science fiction, technology, history, mythology, and imaginative visions of the future.
While artists such as Sun Ra and George Clinton explored cosmic identity through music, performance, and futuristic imagery, Butler used literature to investigate power, history, and humanity’s possible futures.
Her novels frequently placed Black women in situations where they had to navigate extraordinary challenges and reshape the societies around them.
Butler’s work is widely discussed within Afrofuturist scholarship, although her literary contributions also extend beyond any single cultural label.
She demonstrated that Black people did not have to remain secondary characters in someone else’s vision of the future.
They could be the architects of entirely new worlds.
Recognition and a Lasting Legacy
Butler received some of science fiction’s most significant honors, including Hugo and Nebula Awards.
In 1995, she became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, often called a genius grant.
Her work also included the Xenogenesis trilogy, later collected as Lilith’s Brood, which explored humanity’s encounter with an extraterrestrial species and raised questions about consent, adaptation, identity, and survival.
Butler died on February 24, 2006, at age 58.
Yet her influence has continued to grow.
Her novels are studied in classrooms, discussed by scholars, and embraced by new generations of readers and creators interested in science fiction, social justice, and Afrofuturism.
A Genius Who Made Us Think Differently About Tomorrow
Octavia E. Butler was more than a science-fiction author.
She was a visionary storyteller who understood that imagining the future also meant examining the past and questioning the present.
Her stories asked readers to consider how power operates, how communities survive, and how human beings might change.
And perhaps her greatest contribution was demonstrating that the future belongs in the imagination of everyone.
Why Octavia E. Butler Belongs in Forgotten Genius Friday
At STM Daily News, our Forgotten Genius Friday series celebrates extraordinary individuals whose ideas, innovations, and accomplishments helped shape our world, even if their stories aren’t widely known. Octavia E. Butler fits that mission perfectly. Although she received prestigious literary awards and recognition during her lifetime, her influence extends far beyond science fiction. Like the inventors, scientists, and trailblazers we’ve featured in this series, Butler challenged barriers, defied expectations, and opened doors for future generations. Through her imagination, she helped redefine who could tell stories about humanity’s future—and who could be at the center of those stories. Her inclusion in Forgotten Genius Friday reminds us that genius isn’t limited to laboratories and inventions. Sometimes, it begins with a pen, a powerful imagination, and the courage to envision a different world.
Sources and fact-checking
The Huntington Library holds Butler’s literary archive and confirms the chronology of her major novels, awards, and career. The MacArthur Foundation independently documents her 1995 fellowship.
- Official Octavia E. Butler biography
- The Huntington — Octavia E. Butler Papers
- MacArthur Foundation — Octavia Butler
- The Huntington — Telling My Stories exhibition
For more stories about overlooked innovators, writers, scientists, and visionaries who changed our world, explore The Knowledge and Forgotten Genius Friday at STM Daily News.
Entertainment
Lights, Camera, Snackers: How Aspiring Filmmakers Can Enter to Win $25,000
The director’s chair is open and the opportunity to create the next great snack-sized movie could be yours. Aspiring filmmakers and creators have the chance to turn a prewritten script into an original short film for a $25,000 prize.
Lights, Camera, Snackers: How Aspiring Filmmakers Can Enter to Win $25,000
(Feature Impact) The director’s chair is open and the opportunity to create the next great snack-sized movie could be yours.
For the second year, Bumble Bee is bringing back its Tuna “Cans”Film Festival, giving aspiring filmmakers and creators the chance to turn a script written by comedian and actress, Grace Reiter, into an original short film starring its deliciously convenient tuna Snackers.
Watch the video to learn more!
“I love a chance to support those starting out in the film industry – and this time, I’m partnering with Bumble Bee for the Tuna Cans Film Festival to do it,” Reiter said. “Plus, I’m making it easy: I already wrote the script.”
Using Reiter’s scripted lines, creators can make the story entirely their own, bringing their vision to life through original characters, settings, music, editing and creative flair.
The creative brief is simple: The finished film must be 60 seconds or less and Bumble Bee Snackers™ need to get their moment in the spotlight.
Plus, the stakes are bigger than ever: The winning filmmaker will take home a $25,000 grand prize to help make their filmmaking dreams a reality.
Creators can submit their original short film by Oct. 23, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. PT.
The film can be funny, dramatic, unexpected or all three. The lines are already written but the order, arrangement and any additions are open to creative interpretation. Now it’s time to see what you can do with it.
Visit tunacansfilmfest.com, where you can find Reiter’s original script, submission instructions and complete contest details, to get started.
SOURCE:
Bumble Bee
Last Updated on October 9, 2026 by Daily News Staff
From haunted mazes after dark to daytime trick-or-treating with Snoopy, Knott’s offers two ways to celebrate Halloween in 2026.
BUENA PARK, Calif. — Halloween season is underway at Knott’s Berry Farm, where visitors can choose between the nighttime frights of Knott’s Scary Farm and the playful daytime activities of Knott’s Spooky Farm.
For readers planning a Southern California outing this October, the two celebrations offer different ways to get into the Halloween spirit.
Scary Farm brings new nightmares after dark
Knott’s Scary Farm runs on select nights through October 31, 2026, transforming the park with haunted mazes, scare zones, shows, and more than 1,000 creatures, according to Knott’s.
Two new mazes join this year’s lineup. Inked turns a cartoonist’s creations into a nightmare, while Unearthed sends visitors into an excavation where an ancient evil has awakened.
Also new for 2026 is Color Collect, an activity in which guests use an interactive lantern to activate pillars around the park and collect six colors.
Scary Farm requires its own paid event admission. As of October 4, online single-night tickets are advertised from $65, with taxes potentially additional. Knott’s does not recommend the event for children under 13.
Spooky Farm offers daytime Halloween fun
For families seeking a gentler celebration, Knott’s Spooky Farm takes place Thursdays through Sundays, September 24–October 31, plus October 12, according to the park’s events calendar, which lists the additional date as Columbus Day.
Children can trick-or-treat through Ghost Town, enjoy games and spooky stories with Snoopy and the Peanuts characters, and show off their Halloween outfits at Snoopy’s Spooktacular Costume Party.
Other activities include the Creepy Critters of Calico, cookie decorating in the pumpkin patch, and performances by the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. Cookie decorating carries an additional fee.
The daytime celebration gives families a chance to enjoy Halloween decorations, treats, and entertainment together before the nighttime haunt begins.
Planning your visit
Knott’s Berry Farm is located at 8039 Beach Boulevard in Buena Park, California. Before heading out, check the park’s official calendar for your chosen date, operating hours, admission options, and event policies.
Whether your Halloween plans call for a bag of candy or a trip through a haunted maze, Knott’s has a seasonal celebration to match.
Keep the fun going: Visit STM Daily News for more entertainment news, theme park updates, and stories worth sharing.
Official sources
- Knott’s Scary Farm: attractions and tickets
- Knott’s Spooky Farm: activities and entertainment
- Knott’s Berry Farm: seasonal event dates
Information checked October 4, 2026. Event schedules, offerings, and ticket prices may change.
