Did You Know That The Movie Kevin Watches In ‘Home Alone’ Isn’t Real? Seth Rogen Didn’t

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Home Alone

Having your childhood fantasies shattered is never easy for anyone, even for someone as accomplished as Seth Rogen. Yesterday, he dropped a Christmas bomb on the Twitterverse when he wrote about his dismay at finding out that the movie Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) watches in Home Alone, titled Angels With Filthy Souls, wasn’t a real movie:

My entire childhood, I thought the old timey movie that Kevin watches in Home Alone (Angels With Filthy Souls) was actually an old movie.

— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) December 25, 2018

To say that some of Rogen’s famous buds (and not-so-famous followers) were shaken by the news is an understatement:

It isn’t? (Dead serious)

— nick kroll (@nickkroll) December 25, 2018

IT’S NOT???? https://t.co/opPZtnaehs

— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) December 25, 2018

My entire LIFE, until now, I thought the old timey movie that Kevin watches in Home Alone (Angels With Filthy Souls) was actually an old movie. https://t.co/xkDMVLClx5

— Dana (@Tthip) December 25, 2018

I was today years old when I found out that the old gangster movie that Kevin watches in Home Alone, isn’t a real movie. “Angels With Filthy Souls” is a fictional movie within a fictional movie. Merry Christmas, YA FILTHY ANIMALS!!! pic.twitter.com/Ezidu3iPHl

— Donny DiMarco (@donnydimarco) December 25, 2018

I last saw Home Alone when it came out in the theaters in 1990, when I was in college, so it’s hard for me to remember exactly what I thought of the old gangster film Kevin popped into the VCR to fool idiot burglars Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) into thinking there was something going on in Kevin’s massive, empty house. I likely thought that the movie wasn’t real, but I could just have easily thought it was real ’40s film noir.

But, I do get why people like Rogen, who was 8 when the movie came out, might think it was real. John Hughes, who wrote the film, and Chris Columbus, who directed, both did a great job of making the clip look like an old film, complete with catchphrase, “Keep the change, ya filthy animal!” This featurette from the DVD shows the clip in full:

In Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, Kevin watches the movie’s sequel, Angels With Even Filthier Souls, as he lounges a the Plaza Hotel.

This may have been a tip-off to some, given the silly, winking sequel name. But, it was still real enough for kids to think that it’s an actual sequel to an actual movie.

Me too. And then when the sequel came out and he watches the fake sequel, I thought, “Oh, so that’s why they chose it. In case they made a Home Alone 2.”

— Kibblesmith ☃️ (@kibblesmith) December 25, 2018

Kudos to Columbus and the Hughes (who we really wish was still here making movies) for faking so many kids out. And, to bring things full circle, watch for Angels in the recent Google ad starring Culkin as a grown-up Kevin:

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

Where to stream Home Alone