The Peanut Butter Solution (1986)

I was recently able to engage in some radical immersion therapy this weekend wherein I confronted a childhood fear–creepy family film "The Peanut Butter Solution"–and came to grips with it's hold on my psyche. Ideally, I would find that this odd Canadian import was not nearly so bad as remembered and put to rest memories of a movie that has haunted me well into my adulthood.It didn't quite work out that way… …as this movie is actually still horrifying. The film, second in the still running Tales for All series from Canadian studio Les Productions la Fête, features a child predator who harvests hair to make magic paintbrushes in a warehouse/sweatshop filled with abducted children. The movie also includes a delightful scene of a child being mauled by dogs.The titular magical hair growing solution is used by one child on his nether regions leading to some really skeevy results. "Solution" stars Michael Hogan (Col. Saul Tigh in "Battlestar Galactica") as one of the world's worst screen fathers and features several early pop numbers from Celine Dion.The tone of "The Peanut Butter Solution" is intentionally unsettling and the storytelling follows nightmare logic. Michael Baskin, a high strung 11 year old prone to screaming fits, loses all his hair after being frightened by some unseen bogeyman discovered in the remains of a burnt down house. In the home at the time of the fire are two "winos" who were burned to death and now administer sinister taunts to Baskin from the great beyond. The two ghosts give Michael a solution to his hair problem–a potion recipe consisting of dead flies, rotten eggs, and peanut butter.Michael adds too much peanut butter to the potion, resulting in his hair growing uncontrollably. This makes him the target of the Signor, a child predator and high strung recently fired school teacher, who charms Michael and twenty other neighborhood children into the back of his van and off to his magical sweatshop. Michael is kept restrained in the sweatshop and fed nothing but yogurt. In the meantime, Col. Tigh–distraught at the disappearance of his son–screams and rips his art studio apart.The film is further creepified by the fact that it holds true to the house style of its studio New World Pictures. New World brought us the first Hellraiser films, "Angel," "House," Nice Girls Don't Explode," and more 80s pay cable staples. New World films were made on a budget and employed a shooting style that washed out colors and muted light sources. The cheaper look of these movies worked to the favor of its horror films as the rough hewn production could be unsettling and off-putting, perfect for making viewers ill at ease. New World films frequently employed over amplified synth soundtracks which heighten the sense of dread. The use of these techniques in a children's film produces predictable results–fear and anxiety lasting well into your thirties.Director Michael Rubbo is hindered by a shoestring budget which apparently didn't allow him to shoot any scene more than once. Siluk Saysanasy as Michael's best buddy and inappropriate user of peanut butter is simply dreadful. Michael Hogan is left stranded in this movie flailing around and like his screen son prone to unsettling screaming fits. Alison Podbrey, as Michael's sister Susie, does her best but unfortunately cut her acting teeth on this train wreck and elicited this pithy observation from IMDb commenter "tumbleweeds": "Not only is she butt ugly, she's one of those people who NEVER close their mouth. Leaves it hanging open like a retard. Makes me sick to look at her. I hope the woman who played her is dead now." Rewatching this movie, I was surprised that, while it no longer scared me, it still made me uneasy throughout. The jumpy editing, whimsy deficit, and sense of doom that permeates the film make it hard to believe Rubbo was actually making a children's film. The filmmakers seem to realize what a horrific gift they've bestowed upon children by trying to wrap everything up with a cheerful finale completely different in tone than the rest of the movie. Michael's previously unstable artist father saves the day and his mother–who the film hints early on abandoned her freak show of a family–returns home with hugs and kisses."The Peanut Butter Solution" is not for children you love. But for children you hate, it's perfect.Those curious to see the film in its entirety can do so at Google Videos.

why was this movie so dream-like? i don't remember if i enjoyed it or not, but rated peanut butter solution as 8 anyhow. something told me to search this; i found so many comments all stating 'i thought this was a dream- everyone thought i was nuts' and so on. i felt the same but i couldn't recall if it was a television show, movie, child's book or a concoction of the imagination based on some shred of fact, from somewhere! call it a waste of a b-movie but i've never heard of anything causing such a bizarre reaction with the mind. being a child of the eighties (as most of us appear to be) entails a LOT of media and television-induced nostalgia. (just) a few of my brightest and earliest memories are of animated faces bright and positive, gleaming puppets and grown adults conversing as if it could occur right next door. he-man bodies and artificial visions from some guy's half-assed id permanently burnt, laser-style, into our staring retinas. it's not hard to tell those phony memories from the genuine- but the earliest brain-waves and dreams get scrambled up together. i find it extremely hard to separate very early dream memories and early artificial memorabilia (television, movies etc) from one another. anyone else? peanut butter solution was the deepest and first i've uncovered. really i just remembered the long hair growing fast, a conveyor belt (?) loaded with long-haired kids, evil adults, and paint brushes.oh yeah, and peanut butter.more memories are jogged by these comments.. like the shopping cart, the 'fright', the signor, and the strange paintings. i have questions for those of you who have seen this movie, like, does yogurt have to do with anything??? i remember it being the antidote or something. sorry if the answer has already been posted.. and what exactly was the fright that Micheal saw? what was with all the evil stepford adults? i'm looking for the movie, i can't wait to see it. i love b-movies so i don't think i'll be disappointed either way, although i've seen the trailer and it doesn't look AT ALL how i remembered it. if anyone (even reads this :P) has a link or something for this movie it would be much appreciated. here is the trailer.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2Cm4Cy3rxs sorry if someone has already posted it. i realize i ramble.. i am very interested in discussing this movie with others who remember more about it! if you don't like my wordy-ness.. there ya go.peanut butter revolution!

I can not believe how many people suffered from the same experience as me. As I tried to explain the following to friends often, I would get a blank stare in response : "A kid goes into a house for some reason, i think he falls backwards, gets amnesia and loses his hair. He glues a wig on his head, plays soccer, it gets ripped off, he runs home. He tries an experiment, his parents destroy it because it contains like dead flies and he is trying to grow his hair back. Then these ghosts or ancestors of his, -something give him another chance at the recipe and he gets it to work, he looks in a toaster at his reflection and his hair is growing...it grows way too fast" BLANK STARES.

It is so hilarious to see how many people remember little bits of this movie from seeing it as a child. I must have been 6 or so when I saw it and for years I have been trying to figure out what movie it was that terrified me and involved hair loss/extreme growth, peanut butter and a haunted house. Like many others, I have explained my odd memories of this movie to people and have been told I'm delusional. Finally, 15 years later, I have proof that it wasn't just some strange nightmare that stuck with me, but an actual film! Can't wait to watch it again...no matter how horrible it may be.