The Peanut Butter Solution
Tags: absurd, cult, psychedelic

Plot synopsis:
Michael Baskin is an average 11-year-old boy. His father, Billy Baskin, is a struggling artist and temporary sole caregiver of the children while his wife attends to the needs of her recently deceased father in Australia. Upon hearing the news that an abandoned mansion has recently burned down, Michael and his friend Connie decide to explore the remains. Outside the mansion, Connie dares Michael to take a look inside, leading to a frightening encounter with the ghosts of its homeless inhabitants who had died in the fire. Michael does not know this yet, but his fearsome run in with the ghosts has given him a mysterious illness simply known as "The Fright". Michael wakes up the next morning to find out that "The Fright" has made him lose all of his hair. After a failed attempt with a wig (his wig was pulled off by an older boy during a fight in a soccer game), the ghosts visit Michael in his sleep and give him the recipe of a magical formula for hair growth, the main ingredient of which is peanut butter. Michael's first attempt to make the formula is thwarted when his father and sister think he is making something to ingest (rather than use topically) and dispose of it.
The ghosts return the following night, giving themselves a second chance to pay him back for giving his money to some homeless people, and also give Michael special instruction not to add too much peanut butter, as it will end in dreadful results. Michael successfully makes the formula this time, but ignores their instructions not to overdo the peanut butter, and wakes up the next morning to find that his new hair has already begun to grow. After only a few minutes, Michael has grown a full head of hair. Suspicious of his fast growing follicles, Connie confronts Michael about his unusual ability. When Michael reveals to him his concoction, Connie decides to apply some to his pubic area, in an attempt to create the illusion that he's going through puberty. Connie soon discovers that the joke is on him. Pretty soon, Michael and Connie's hair grows to such lengths that it has become a nuisance for the school and their classmates, resulting in their suspensions. While Michael frantically searches for a solution, Connie discovers that the hair will stop growing by yelling at it.
The art teacher at Michael's school, simply called the Signor, frightens children and forbids them from using their imagination. After getting fired from the school, the Signor finds out about Michael's condition and kidnaps him (and many other neighborhood children) to make magic paint brushes from Michael's ever-growing hair, in which he subdues Michael with a knockout drug. The kidnapped children are put to work under tough conditions. "We have to make 500 brushes a day, or we don't eat!" The paintbrushes are so powerful that they paint whatever their user imagines without need for detail or neatness. Connie and Michael's sister, Susan, discover the Signor's magical paintbrush factory and try to rescue Michael. Connie tries to use force, but he is overpowered by Signor and his dog James. Instead, Connie tricks the Signor into painting a picture of the abandoned mansion. Connie then dares him to investigate inside, leading "The Fright" to be passed on from Michael to the Signor. The Signor, now bald, escapes from the haunted house and chases the children, locking them up. Just as Connie is about to escape with Michael, Susan and their dad find the factory and the Signor is arrested by the local police. The film ends with the family reunited as the mother has returned home, and Michael's hair has stopped growing out of control.

Review: 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.
I too, saw this movie when I was very young(seven), and I remember getting quite scared by it.
The funny thing is that at seven years old, I was very much into action/sci fi movies, and I had just recently watched my first Horror movie, A Nightmare On Elm Street 3, which I thought was great.
The only other Horror movie I had seen at the time was 'The Gate', which I thought was kind of creepy.
One day after walking through the video store, I came across 'The Peanut Butter Solution', and it looked so strange, that I decided to rent it.
It's not a good movie by any means, but it's definitely worth viewing, especially if you want to see something weird and creepy..
It seems almost all the posts people have on this movie are memories of watching it as a child, and then having vague memories of bits and pieces as an adult...I must say, I'm not much different in this matter either.
I do remember getting nightmares from it (like most people), not that this is particularly a scary movie by today's standards, but to a child it definitely puts a psychological fear that stays with you.
I think perhaps it wasn't marketed correctly back in the 80's because while it seems like a childs movie, I wouldn't recommend it to young children.
I would bet that there are probably even people today who have been scarred from watching this as a very young child...So, if you come across it, it's worth checking out.
I ve been working in videos stores for 5yrs now and every time someone new comes and works in the video store I always ask have you ever seen a movie where this kid loses his hair and uses this stuff with peanut butter in it to make his hair grow.
I bought a VHS copy from Amazon and just watched it with my 6yr old son but I don't think it scared him as much as it did to the kids in the 80s.
It was everything I remembered but I had forgotten all about the ending with the magic paintings which now looks like the moving pictures you can buy in the mall.
Whenever I reminisce about old 80s movies, this one always comes to mind, yet NO ONE else has ever seen it or remembers it.
My favorite part is when that one kid puts the peanut butter solution on his crotch and the hair grows out his pants.
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.
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.
There's nothing better than human hair paint brushes and peanut butter mixed together to make a picture come alive.
My favorite part of the film is when the boys hair was growing through out the house, and the man was cutting it off to turn the hair into paint brushes.
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.
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.
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 just was cleaning out our basement and came across our old betamax movie collection.Aahh memories....Anyways one of the movies was Peanut Butter Solution...it immediately brought back forgotten memories, but sadly, since we no longer own a beta machine, I cant watch it.Now, I haven't seen this movie since I was a (young) kid, but one thing I do remember about this movie was that it FREAKED ME THE HELL OUT!
I don't remember the complete story, except for the fact that the peanut butter stuff grew hair (sounds funny) but I don't remember laughing at all, I remember my sister loving this movie but I hated it cause it scared the hell out of me, and creeped me out big time, I really am looking forward to finding this somewhere and watching it now that I'm older....And although ET still freaks me out to the point of not being able to watch it, maybe this will be different..
To really get something out of the Peanut Butter Solution, you have to watch it in the right mindset.
You cannot watch this movie seriously, hoping to see a great film; you have to watch it knowing that it is so bad and so goofy in order to really enjoy it.
I watched this movie when I was really little all the time and somehow the title stuck with me.
I can't even count all of the hysterical scenes that are in this movie; ranging from Connies pubic hair hanging out from his pant leg like a horses main as he skips along the crosswalk to the inspirational speech Michael gives in school, "I want to be educated.
The acting was just as bad, it would have been funny if not so sad.Some of the story was sort of interesting, but this film isn't for kids.
The premise of the film is one thing, but the ghostly couple were/are still some of the creepiest people I've ever seen in a "kids" movie.
When I was little I remembered a movie about the characters spreading peanut butter on their head, but I couldn't remember why, I just remembered that it had stuck with me for about 15 years.
I could never remember the title to this movie, but like some movies you get a certain smell or sense when you watch it.
I was so infuriated with myself that I couldn't think of the title to this movie that I went to google and typed in Movie Peanut Butter on Head and it came back with "The Peanut Butter Solution." There is definitely something strange about this movie that has lurked me for over 15 years and I have no clue what it was.
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.
I saw this movie years ago when I was a kid...was forced to see it twice.
And then the other day, I was looking through our old movies and then I saw "The Peanut Butter Solution" and I couldn't help but take it out and watch it.
It unfortunately did nothing, until I was about 13 then I saw the effect taking place...I really want that paint brush though, unfortunately you can't really jump into paintings either, for I tried and ruined every picture in the house.It made me also believe that bums were magical, and they could make weird concoctions that would grow hair and not beg for change.This is a great movie, but not to be taken literally, this was my first lesson in the difference between myth and reality..
However this movie may definitely be defined as "unique" its absolutely NOT meant for children and does not have any humor to it at all.I remember watching it as a child and being terribly frightened by this film-today as an adult I can still remember how scary this is-it has definitely left a mark on me and several other people i know who have watched this as a child.It is essentially about a young boy who goes into a haunted house and becomes unconscious because he was extremely frightened-he wakes up to find that he has lost all of his hair and will have to wear a wig-this causes him a lot of problems in school; because of these problems the ghosts who previously scared him, come back to give him a magic potion so that his hair will regrow-all this potion does is cause his hair to never stop growing-he is so humiliated he runs away and is kidnapped by an old man from his school who has kidnapped hundreds of children and exploits them for their hair/making paint brushes and magic pictures.I would be sure to sensor this before showing it to a child..
Like many others, I saw this movie when I was around 10 or so, which was 15 years ago.
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.
It was my favorite movie and I would watch it whenever I got the chance.
Weird thing is around the age of ten I found a copy of the movie that I hadn't seen in years.
As I watched it again at the age of ten the movie I remember I loved so much (which still nobody I've ever known has heard of) scared the life outta me!
To this day I still think its the craziest movie ever, and sorta wished I wouldn't have watched it as a child.
Only thing different from others comments then mine is I watched this movie a ton as a child and remembered the name and everything just thought I would look it up on IMDb randomly, And I found a copy to see what I thought of it today.
Anyway if you hadn't seen this as a child you would definitely think this movie is beyond ridiculous but if you had seen it as a child its a great film to eerily reminisce over scared and alone (just kidding...
Agree entirely with what the other guy wrote, peanut butter solution is one of those movies that you watched when you're a kid and want to tell the world about it now but just can't quite get the title off the end of your tongue.
Truly a classic from the 80's!!!It's even still good enough to let your kids of today watch it..
IDK the title but i know it involved two kids (brother and sister) who were free falling and trapped in bubbles for such a long time that they end up just sitting there looking bored, waiting to hit the ground.
http://www.wizmovies.com/ Just look under the selection of titles they have and you will be able to find it there-- I believe it was uploaded off of an old either VHS/Or Beta copy lol as it shows the tape speed a couple times during the movie- Great quality though considering how old it is.
I remember dreaming about having paintings like this and always thought they should have maybe done some more with the idea of people going into them...Anyway...
I have asked so many people over the years if they have ever heard of "The Peanut Butter Solution" and I believe, after asking close to 75 people (...literally, by the way, because I had asked during a giant college group process and there were about 50 people in my group at least) I have gone through High School and am in college and, other than my sister and I, I have found two people who know what this movie is, one of which couldn't remember the title but knew when I described it.
i watched the peanut butter solution a looong time ago, and like most others, it scared the crap out of me.
the movie came out before i was born, but as a small child, the idea that there could be something so scary it could make your hair fall out terrified me.
i don't remember the acting or dialogue, only that the movie was amazing and i loved it, even if it did scare me...
The peanut butter solution was made of some nasty things too, i remember him cracking a raw egg over his head?
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.
Anyway the young boy goes up into this old beaten down house & slides down a slide of some sort when he lands he has no hair!who remembers this part?
I haven't been able to locate a copy of this anywhere, I found that not many people have seen this movie but I would very much love to see this again so if anyone has any idea where I could get a copy that would be great:-).
I remember that this kid went into this haunted house, got so scared that his hair started falling out, and the Peanut Butter Solution he slathered all over his head to grow his hair back.
I saw this movie on TV when I was around 10 years old.
I could never remember much of it, just something about peanut butter and a boy whose hair grew really quickly and these people who kidnapped him and made paintbrushes out of his hair, but it seemed so freaky I thought maybe it was just a dream I'd had back then.
*twitch*I saw this movie when I was little and I remember having the most horrific nightmares.
It's funny...either I was the biggest TV head or I was forced to watch it, because of all the times I saw this movie, I don't remember once enjoying it.
I'm sorry, but..a kid goes to a haunted house...he gets so scared that the next day his hair starts to fall out..until he's completely bald!
If that's not bad enough, they introduce this "peanut butter solution" to the poor boy(which looks just like plain old peanut butter) and tell him this will grow his hair back...
The peanut butter solution is a good story for young and old alike.
It was a little slow at the start of the movie but it got better as the film went on.
I saw this movie when I was about eight and remember being terrified!
Just a warning to any eight year old who'd like to watch a movie about peanut butter: don't repress it.
Actually, this movie is so weird, it is worth watching.
All I can remember is that one kid puts the peanut butter on so he could grow pubic hair.
I never wanted to see this movie again, now I'm a little curious though, I'm not sure if I'll watch it again because that scene bothered me so much but I'm tempted to, just to see if it's as bad as I remember.
i don't even remember how old I was when I saw The Peanut Butter Solution, but its memory has stayed with me and recurred for at least 15-17 years.
this movie makes you realize quickly, even as a child, that life is so thoroughly bleak that you will even try putting peanut butter mixed with a bunch of gross crap all over your head to make it better..
"The Peanut Butter Solution" is a children's film from the 80's that aims for outlandish but settles for strange.
It works, but now the boy's hair won't stop growing and eventually leads to him being kicked out of school at which point he is promptly kidnapped by his former art teacher who uses the boy's hair to make paintbrushes in a secret sweatshop full of other kidnapped children.*taking a long sip from water bottle* A lot of the reviews on here are by people who saw this film as a child (like me) and have spent a considerable amount of time trying to track it down as adults (not like me).
I saw this movie so you don't have to, and if you're asking what you can do to make it up to me, please remember...I'm into cash.GRADE: C.
i don't remember if i enjoyed it or not, but rated peanut butter solution as 8 anyhow.
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..
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.
"The Peanut Butter Solution" is not for children you love.
I remember being very frightened of this movie, but also fascinated at the same time.
I feel as though a investigation into this movie should be made.IF YOU WANT TO WATCH IT TO REMEMBER THESE HORRIBLE MEMORIES OF YOUR CHILDHOOD YOU CAN SEE IT ON GOOGLE VIDEO..
Here's what I recall: A kid gets scared in an old house by some ghosts and all of his hair falls out.Everyone makes fun of him ...