The Peanut Butter Solution

I can't vouch for how scary this film might seem to a child - this is one of the few IMDb reviews written by someone who didn't see the movie when young - but I can confirm that it has a very weird tone that could be disturbing to kids: the way the story is told is just a little off-kilter, making the whole thing feel like a bad dream.

The bizarre plot concerns 11-year-old Michael (Mathew Mackay), who investigates a burnt-out spooky mansion where something frightens him so much that all of his hair falls out. Bullied at school for being bald, Michael is delighted when he is visited by two ghosts who give him a recipe to solve his problem, the crucial ingredient being peanut butter. Painting the concoction on his head before bedtime, he wakes the next day to discover that the mixture has worked - but having put too much peanut butter into the solution, his hair growth is rapid and unstoppable.

Matters get even more strange when Michael is abducted and used by mad painter Sergio (Michel Maillot) as the source of hair for his magic paintbrushes, which are assembled by other kidnapped children. It is up to Michael's sister Suzie (Alison Darcy) and best friend Connie (Siluck Saysanasy) to come to the rescue.

Given a bigger budget and a better cast, I could imagine this film receiving the same level of love and admiration reserved for family favourites like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Labyrinth and Coraline - it certainly has a lot of imagination - but as it stands, it's merely a curiosity remembered fondly by those who saw it at an impressionable age. I can imagine most adults struggling with the cheap production values, poor performances and awkward storytelling - factors that help to make it a surreal experience but which discerning grown-ups might not find that appealing.

I totally agree that the movie is not a comedy and not for children. I can't think of a darker film.

I saw this as a child and have vividly horrible memories of the scene where he gets his wig yanked off in the soccer game. All the imagery taps into a child's deepest fears. Even the gooey quality of the peanut butter itself and spreading it all over your head. And the orphanage / sweatshop where they starve the children. I had nightmares of being trapped in there.It's just so wrong.

It would probably seem campy to watch now, but the original impact my psyche is irreversible. It's so funny that literally everyone in the forums had the same experience. I've never seen such unanimity in on IMDb.

my family are complete movies buffs and i must have seen hundreds of movies in my childhood, almost none of which i can recall with such vivid detail as this one. i loved the peanut butter solution so much that i went to see it twice in the cinema when i was about 7 or 8 years old. i still talk about it and tell people about it to this day. strangely, my sister cannot remember a single thing about it or ever even going to see it although she went with me both times, and until i decided to look it up here i had never heard of or spoken to another person who had seen it. thank you, IMDb, for assuring me that have not lost my mind. as soon as i get the chance i am going to start scouring video stores to find a copy of this to rent and watch as an adult and show to my sister and friends. i hope i enjoy as much as i did as a child.

A lovely trip down memory lane. I saw this film when I was a child of seven, again when I was ten and snippets of this film have followed me ever since. I just finished watching the film again moments ago, the first time as an adult. Now, this film was somewhat frightening when I was seven, it does have some spooky elements, I don't recommend it for young children. I do feel however that this movie does deserve a second look by adults. The acting isn't award winning, and the special effects certainly wouldn't stand up to today's standards, however this film does have a unique premise and the dialog rarely comes off as childish, this isn't really a childs movie and I feel it was mis-marketted as one. One notable point about this film for most Canadians in their twenties and thirties will recognize several faces from other Canadian films and television from the early 1980's. This film was produced in english, the first film released by La Fete that I am aware of, to be produced in english not just dubbed over. If you enjoyed this film I also recommend watching The Dog that Stopped the War (1984) a great film put out by La Fete immediately before the Peanut Butter Solution. The Dog who Stopped the War can also be found by its original french title Guerre des tuques, La (1984).

Watched this several times as a kid. My babysitter had it on VHS. I was fascinated by it and it really got into my psyche. It's dreamlike, weaving seemingly unrelated elements into a story with almost free-association. There's peanut butter mixed with flies and other gross stuff, super fast-growing hair, paintings that come to life, a sugar trail being washed away, and other random images. I wonder if this movie was actually inspired by a dream, or by someone picking random words out of a dictionary maybe?

Anyway, I loved it and longed to be able to paint a picture that I could walk into. The plot is unique and imaginative. I was too young when I watched this to pay attention to dialogue or acting - they're probably not great. The imagery is amazing, though. I don't remember the story being especially scary, but it was disturbing. I believe the boy who is the victim of all this was in a coma and also kidnapped. I just wonder if I watched this movie now whether it would still seem as magical to me, or would I be disappointed?