History Main / HomeAloneAntics

[[folder: Film ]]

* An episode of the ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' TV series did this. Ariel was grounded (or "beached") at the palace while Triton was away, and had to stop two saltwater crocodile thieves from looting the palace.
* ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' has an unusual case -- the [[AnimateInanimateObject Enchanted Objects]], upon realizing that they won't be able to keep the AngryMob out of the castle, decide to assemble in the foyer, freeze, and let the humans break in. As soon as [=LeFou=] grabs Lumiere to get a better look at things, the candelabra shouts "Now!" and all of the objects begin to attack and/or frighten the mob in various ways, ranging from the Wardrobe jumping off a balcony onto several men to the Footstool tricking others into the kitchen, whereupon the utensil drawers spring open to reveal knives standing at attention and the stove blazes and roars. In short, the defenders ''are'' the traps. This manages to ShooOutTheClowns, leaving only Gaston to actually confront the Beast in the second half of the film's climax. As this film was originally released a year after ''Home Alone'', one of the kid-skewing television ads for it actually focused on this sequence, even using the phrase "home alone" in the announcer's voiceover.

Named after and popularized by ([[OlderThanTheyThink but not started by]]) ''Film/HomeAlone'', Home Alone Antics are an unusually specific trope. At its most well-known form, a kid sets traps in or around a house, and bad guys who are after the kid (or the house or something in it) end up getting hurt by the traps.

* ''Film/HomeAlone'' is the TropeNamer and TropeCodifier. The majority of the film is actually about a boy's attempts to live on his own after accidentally being left behind by his family, and how he manages buying food, tricking people into thinking there are others in the house, and so on, but the movie was overwhelmingly remembered for its third act, which consists of the boy setting traps for the film's antagonists, the two bumbling robbers who have spend the majority of the film plotting to loot his house, almost immediately following said robbers getting caught in them. The traps only get more violent and extreme in the second movie.[[note]]Wrestler/author Wrestling/MickFoley, for his second autobiography, recounts how, out of curiosity, he had a doctor watch the sequel with him; the doctor concluded at least half the traps would be fatal more likely than not, and all would cause immensely severe injuries. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WKgNyvsNDM Broken down rather nicely here.]][[/note]]

* A regular occurance on ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'' after a LetsSplitUpGang when Scooby & Shaggy are on the run from the monster of the week, then set up some kind of elaborate scenario in order to confuse the monster.

* ''Film/HomeAlone'' is the TropeNamer and TropeCodifier. While the majority of the film is actually about a boy's attempts to live on his own after accidentally being left behind by his parents, and how he manages buying food, tricking people into thinking there are others in the house, and so on, the movie was overwhelmingly remembered for its third act, which consists of the boy setting traps for the film's antagonists, the two bumbling robbers who have spend the majority of the film plotting to loot his house, almost immediately following said robbers getting caught in them. The traps only get more violent and extreme in the second movie.[[note]]Wrestler/author Wrestling/MickFoley, for his second autobiography, recounts how, out of curiosity, he had a doctor watch the sequel with him; the doctor concluded at least half the traps would be fatal more likely than not, and all would cause immensely severe injuries. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WKgNyvsNDM Broken down rather nicely here.]][[/note]]

Named after and popularized by (([[OlderThanTheyThink but not started by]])) ''Film/HomeAlone'', Home Alone Antics are an unusually specific trope. At its most well-known form, a kid sets traps in or around a house, and bad guys who are after the kid (or the house or something in it) end up getting hurt by the traps.

Named after, popularized by, [[OlderThanTheyThink though not started by]], ''Film/HomeAlone'', Home Alone Antics are an unusually specific trope. At its most well-known form, a kid sets traps in or around a house, and bad guys who are after the kid (or the house or something in it) end up getting hurt by the traps.

* ''Film/HomeAlone'' is the TropeNamer and TropeCodifier. While the majority of the film is actually about a boy's attempts to live on his own after accidentally being left behind by his parents, and how he manages buying food, tricking people into thinking there are others in the house, and so on, the movie was overwhelmingly remembered for its ending, which consists of the boy setting traps for robbers that are planning to rob his house, and them getting caught in them. The traps only get more violent and extreme in the second movie.[[note]]Wrestler/author Wrestling/MickFoley, for his second autobiography, recounts how, out of curiosity, he had a doctor watch the sequel with him; the doctor concluded at least half the traps would be fatal more likely than not, and all would cause immensely severe injuries. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WKgNyvsNDM Broken down rather nicely here.]][[/note]]
** It should be pointed out that, in at least the first two Home Alone films, some of the traps were made worse, or entirely created, by the bad guys as they bumbled around. In fact, in both movies, Keven was caught and would have been killed if there wasn't an intervention by an adult. In the first, the bad guys even catch up to Kevin early, and would have killed him had Kevin not been lucky enough to be within arms reach of his brother's spider.

* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_(film) Remote]]'' is an obscure 90s film where the child protagonist ends up on his own and must battle 3 silly villains all with the help of a… remote control! Or, being more specific, with a variety of remote-controlled toys that the kid (who has an obsession of collecting them that his parents are fed up with) had to hide within the model home that the villains have taken refuge in (and thus he is trapped on).

* ''Film/MouseHunt'' is this but replaces the child with a rodent. HilarityEnsues of course.
* The ''Film/RichieRich'' live-action movie turned into this near the end, as the house's traps were used against the bad guys. This time it was a group of kids using them. This example might be an ActorAllusion too, since MacaulayCulkin starred as Richie as well as the first two ''Home Alone''s.

* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in ''Film/SpyHard'': A bunch of secret agents chasing a CaptainErsatz of [[Film/HomeAlone Kevin McAllister]] through a house simply evade and defuse all of the traps.

* ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' has an unusual case -- the [[AnimateInanimateObject Enchanted Objects]], upon realizing that they won't be able to keep the AngryMob out of the castle, decide to assemble in the foyer, freeze, and let the humans break in. As soon as [=LeFou=] grabs Lumiere to get a better look at things, the candelabra shouts "Now!" and all of the objects begin to attack and/or frighten the mob in various ways, ranging from the Wardrobe jumping off a balcony onto several men to the Footstool tricking others into the kitchen, whereupon the utensil drawers spring open to reveal knives standing at attention and the stove blazes and roars. In short, the defenders ''are'' the traps. This manages to ShooOutTheClowns, leaving only Gaston to actually confront the Beast in the second half of the film's climax.

A subtrope of {{Slapstick}}, ProtectThisHouse, and by extension, DieHardOnAnX. This is the {{Lighter and Softer}} version of ProtectThisHouse, and a variant of the HumiliationConga. Related to HomeFieldAdvantage, as the kid is probably setting up the traps in his own home or some place he's more familiar with than his opponents.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': The episode "''I've Got Batman In My Basement''" has Batman, well, [[TropeNamer stuck in]] [[BatmanInMyBasement the basement of a kid's house]] while he recuperates from injuries taken while fighting the Penguin. The final act of the story has the Penguin and his goons finding the house and going in, forcing the kid and his friends to improvise a defense using the contents of the Bat-Belt (and ''still'' almost getting killed until Batman wakes up and pulls a "BigDamnHeroes" moment). [[WordOfGod Interestingly, this was one of the episodes that]] [[CreatorBacklash the entire production team (from Timm himself down to the animators)]] [[OldShame hated to work on the most]].

* Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984's climax featured Nancy fighting off Freddy Krueger with booby traps and improvised anti-personnel devices the heroine [[ChekhovsGun had been studying earlier in the film]].

* ''Film/HomeAlone'' is the TropeNamer and TropeCodifier. While the majority of the film is actually about a boy's attempts to live on his own after accidentally being left behind by his parents, and how he manages buying food, tricking people into thinking there are others in the house, and so on, the movie was overwhelmingly remembered for its ending, which consists of the boy setting traps for robbers that are planning to rob his house, and them getting caught in them. The traps only get more violent and extreme in the second movie.[[note]]Wrestler/author Wrestling/MickFoley, for his second autobiography, recounts how, out of curiosity, he had a doctor watch the sequel with him; the doctor concluded at least half the traps would be fatal more likely than not, and all would cause immensely severe injuries. Broken down rather nicely [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WKgNyvsNDM here]][[/note]]

* Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984's climax featured Nancy fighting off Freddy Krueger with booby traps and improvised anti-personnel devices the heroine [[ChekhovsGun had been studying earlier in the film]].

* Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet's climax featured Nancy fighting off Freddy Krueger with booby traps and improvised anti-personnel devices the heroine [[ChekhovsGun had been studying earlier in the film]].

* Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet's climax featured Nancy fighting off Freddy Krueger with booby traps and improvised anti-personnel devices the heroine [[Chekhov'sGun had been studying earlier in the film]].

* [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet]]'s climax featured Nancy fighting off Freddy Krueger with booby traps and improvised anti-personnel devices the heroine [[Chekhov'sGun had been studying earlier in the film]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': The episode "''I've Got Batman In My Basement''" has Batman, well, [[TropeNamer stuck on]] [[BatmanInMyBasement the basement of a kid's house]] while he recuperates from injuries taken while fighting the Penguin. The final act of the story has the Penguin and his goons finding the house and going in, forcing the kid and his friends to improvise a defense using the contents of the Bat-Belt (and ''still'' almost getting killed until Batman pulls a "BigDamnHeroes" moment). [[WordOfGod Interestingly, this was one of the episodes that]] [[CreatorBacklash the entire production team (from Timm himself down to the animators)]] [[OldShame hated to work on the most]].

A subtrope of {{Slapstick}}. This is the {{Lighter and Softer}} version of ProtectThisHouse, and a variant of the HumiliationConga. Related to HomeFieldAdvantage, as the kid is probably setting up the traps in his own home or some place he's more familiar with than his opponents.