10 Insane Changes Movie Sequels Made
4. From Slapstick Violence To BRUTAL Violence - Home Alone 2: Lost In New York
The first Home Alone was a phenomenal success primarily due to the fun of watching young Macaulay Culkin outsmart two dim-witted thieves with an array of ingenious traps.
Though we as viewers relished seeing Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) get repeatedly fooled by Kevin (Culkin), the level of violence largely remained within the bounds of slapstick territory.
And while the sequel largely follows the same formula, director Chris Columbus made one notable change outside of the new setting - majorly upping the ante of the violence on display.
There's a markedly meaner streak to Kevin's traps in Home Alone 2, and it's poor Marv who gets the wince-inducing brunt of it. He's hit in the head with bricks four times, suffers a nasty electrocution, falls large distances numerous times, and is hit by many other objects.
He would've been dead several times over.
This isn't to say that Home Alone 2's violence isn't funny, because it is, but the playful pratfalls of the first film are largely substituted out for genuinely gnarly impact shots like we're rarely subjected to in "family friendly" cinema. It certainly didn't hurt the sequel's popularity any, though.