Earlier this year, Rambo: Last Blood drew a lot of comparisons to Chris Columbus’ 1993 holiday classic Home Alone. The ultra-violent final outing of Sylvester Stallone’s iconic character saw him setting booby traps in his home for his would be attackers in true Kevin McCallister fashion. Well, apparently, this similarity inspired some Dr. Frankenstein to create a monster. That’s because someone replaced Home Alone’s Macaulay Culkin with Sylvester Stallone and the result is incredibly disturbing. Take a look, if you dare:
To quote Kurtz from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, “The horror! The horror!” This video from Ctrl Shift Face is truly a sight to behold, disturbing and unsettling, but also the kind of thing you can’t look away from, kind of like a plane crash. Seeing Macaulay Culkin replaced with Sylvester Stallone is super weird and definitely exists in that territory of the uncanny valley where it provokes revulsion, but it’s also kind of great.
As with all modern technology, deepfakes carry various ethical implications that are worthy of serious discussion as they can be extremely problematic when used for nefarious aims. However, here we see how brilliantly they can be used for entertainment value in Home Stallone.
If Macaulay Culkin’s face were just replaced but his voice remained the same, it wouldn’t have the same effect, but Home Stallone actually has someone do an impression of Sly’s voice, gifting Kevin McCallister with all of the action star’s essence, and it is used to hilarious effect. The part where Kevin is talking in front of the mirror about all of the products he is using sounds so strange coming from an adult voice and not a young Macaulay Culkin.
Hearing Kevin say “absolutely” while cutting down the tree is also classic Sly. The expressions on his face when he is eating ice cream while watching Angels with Filthy Souls are deeply disturbing, but that’s what makes it funny. Many have noted that mixing Sylvester Stallone and Macaulay Culkin results in something that looks a lot like Ryan Gosling, and, well…they’re not wrong.
Apparently the seed is strong with Sly, because the entire McCallister family, sans Catherine O’Hara’s Kate looks like they went a few rounds with Apollo Creed. Yet, while you may think you’re pressing play on this video to have a laugh, Home Stallone takes a dark turn that eclipses even the original Home Alone, which saw a child committing torture and attempted murder.
We never get to see Sly McCallister facing off with the Wet Bandits and using Rambo-like skills to protect his home. Instead, Kevin’s struggle here is much more internal and emotional. That’s because (thanks to footage from Final Destination) his entire family dies in a horrible plane crash, leaving him an orphan. This definitely paints Kevin McCallister’s wish for his whole family to disappear in the beginning of Home Alone in a much more tragic and haunting light.
The original Home Alone is now streaming on Disney+ and there is a new remake, or reboot of sorts, planned for the nascent streaming service. For all of the movies headed to theaters next year check out our 2020 Release Schedule.
