How to Watch Every Home Alone Movie

The holiday season’s fast approaching, which means it’s about time to ignore all responsibilities and binge-watch your favorite holiday classics. But if you didn’t realize there were more than two Home Alone movies, don’t feel bad. We had no idea until yesterday—just like how we still have no idea how Kevin McCallister was left behind by his family twice. Like, come on.

If this is the year you want to commit to a full marathon of the OG Home Alones and all of their offshoots (spoiler alert: the rest are pretty bad), you’ve come to the right place.

Home Alone (1990)

The one that started it all. Written by the late great John Hughes, Home Alone introduces the character of Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin). You know the drill—eight-year-old Kevin wishes his family would just disappear and, lo and behold, he wakes up the next morning and they have…only not really. They’ve instead forgotten him at home as they left on their family Christmas vacation to France. Hijinks really ensue when Kevin has to fight off the criminal Wet Bandits (played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern), who definitely should’ve died at least once from Kevin’s not-so-childish homemade boobytraps. 

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)

If you haven’t seen Home Alone 2, it pretty much follows the same plotline as the first movie. Kevin gets left behind again (this time getting on the wrong flight), ends up in New York City, and once again foils the Wet Bandits (now calling themselves the Sticky Bandits) from stealing a children’s hospital’s charity money from an elderly man’s toy store.

FYI: Both Home Alone and Home Alone 2 used to be on Disney+ thanks to the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by the Walt Disney Company back in 2019. They’ve since been removed, but are expected to return to Disney+ once licensing agreements have ended. However, no return date has been announced as of yet, so STARZ it is.

Home Alone 3 (1997)

Do you love bad sequels? If so, you’re in luck, because Home Alone has plenty of them! Starting with the theatrically released Home Alone 3, this movie shifts away from Kevin to a young boy named Alex Pruitt (Alex D. Linz). Like Kevin, Alex—for a myriad of ridiculous reasons, including missile-cloaking microchips and secret terrorist organizations—has to defend his house from a dangerous group of criminals, and somehow succeeds. And yes, he is also eight years old.

If this movie deters you from continuing on the Home Alone sequel train, we don’t blame you. There are plenty of other solid holiday movies out there. But for the brave, proceed on. 

Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House (2002)

The first Home Alone film to be made for television, it also is the only sequel to bring back many of the characters from the original two films, including Kevin—but no, none of the actors came back. The plot of this movie surrounds Kevin, whose parents are now separated, attempting to defend his future stepmom’s house from his old nemesis Marv (now played by French Stewart) and his sidekick/wife Vera (Missi Pyle). If you can suspend your disbelief that anyone other than Macauley Culkin can play Kevin McCallister, then check it out on Disney+.

Home Alone: The Holiday Heist (2012)

The fifth film in the Home Alone franchise premiered on ABC Family (now Freeform) during the network’s annual Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas. Switching back away from the McCallister family, this movie centers on the Baxter family who have just moved across the country from California to Maine. The young son Finn, after hearing of a ghost that may be haunting his new home, sets up booby traps to catch the ghost, but instead ends up having to protect his house and sister from three art thieves.

Home Sweet Home Alone (2021)

The latest Home Alone sequel (will they ever end?) premiered on Disney+ back in 2021. This time criminals aren’t the villains, but a financially struggling couple that’s having to sell their house at Christmastime—odd choice of antagonists, but we digress. When this couple thinks that a potentially valuable doll of theirs has been stolen by the Mercer family, the Mercer’s son Max (who has been—shocker!—left behind when his family leaves on Christmas vacation) attempts to defend his house when the couple comes to take back the doll. Plenty of comedians stacking the cast and a Buzz McCallister cameo can’t save this from being yet another bad sequel.