<<Movies of My Childhood list
The Peanut Butter Solution
Certainly one of the more unusual kids films of the 1980's, if not
of all time. This is the one many people
struggle to remember and describe like "What was that one about the kid
whose hair grows long... and then all these kids get kindnapped, and cut off
his hair..?" If that's your memory of it, you were on the right track. Even
though this film was a French-Canadian production that was only released to
video in the rest of the world, somehow as a kid, I came to watch it along with
many other Aussie kids who always remember how wierd it was, but also wierdly
fascinating.
‘The Peanut butter Solution’ is one of those rare 80’s movies of
my childhood that will always stay with me. Not because it is a good film. But
because it was so strange...
The story centres on young Michael, who lives with his dad and
sister when we meet him, while his mum is off on holiday for the duration of
the film. Michael is your regular kid; he plays soccer, hangs out with his
buddy from school and believes in ghosts. In the town where they live, stands a
derelict old house, and all the kids believe it's haunted. Dared to walk in
there one day by his friends, Michael does. We watch him walk up the rubble and
enter the dark, creepy house. We don’t see inside, all we hear is Michael
scream. Following this, he tumbles down the pile of rubble and has passed out.
This was the part of the movie which scared and fascinated me as a kid, and
still does to this day. What did Michael see? Some of the best monsters and
horror creations of film were scary because you didn’t always see them; parts
of them were revealed slowly and strategically, building up to their grand
unveiling later in the film, i.e. Jaws. This film plays on that idea – it’s
what you don’t see that scares you.
As a result of being frightened so severely, Michael starts to
lose his hair. His father provides a wig for him and Michael tries to continue
on as normal. At a soccer game one afternoon, a player from the other team
pulls his wig off and Michael is chased home by all the kids. Another
disturbing and scary scene, that taps into that childhood fear of being exposed
and picked on by countless other kids, with no grownups there to help you.
Michael makes it home safely and locks himself away from the world.
A couple of nights later, Michael is lying in bed when he hears
some noises downstairs and like any kid would, goes and investigates. He comes
across an old couple snooping around his kitchen. They see Michael and
introduce themselves. They’re ghosts and have come to help Michael, coming from
the haunted house he entered and got a fright from. Wanting to make it up to
Michael for scaring him, the old couple tell Michael about the Peanut Butter
Solution; a magic concoction of peanut butter and other household ingredients
that will make his hair grow back. He is given the recipe and the ghosts
disappear. Giving it a chance, Michael sets out to gather the ingredients and
makes the solution. Once made, he spreads the substance all over his bald scalp
in the hopes of growing his hair back. Unbeknownst to Michael however, he has
used too much peanut butter.
The next morning he wakes up to his dad and sister ecstatic and
jumping for joy. “You’re hair’s grown back Michael!” the dad screams, and it
sure has. Overnight, Michael’s hair has fully grown back, and as he sees this
in the mirror for himself then proceeds to run around the house in happiness,
it keeps growing. By the end of the day, his hair is down to his shoulders. The
solution has worked so well, his hair won’t stop growing. Each time he cuts it,
it grows back in minutes. However, happy with having more than a full head of
hair back, Michael gets on with his life.
Back at school, Michael tries his best to conceal his
uncontrollable hair growth, but it doesn’t go unnoticed. Michael’s art teacher,
who the students call the Signor, catches wind of this and comes up with a
devilish plan to harvest Michael’s hair....
Now this is where the film gets even wierder; Michael is kidnapped
by the Signor and taken to a factory, where other kidnapped children work as
slaves, cutting off Michael’s hair and turning it into paint brushes. The
Signor then uses these paint brushes to create paintings that come to life and
can somehow allow people to walk into them!
I know! I am confused as you are, but as a child I was fascinated
by this movie. I don’t know why my parents let my sisters and I watch it, as
there are references to not just bullying and the kidnapping of children, but
possibly inclinations towards pedophilia and an obsession with puberty. Well,
that was the 80’s for you. That incomparable decade surely spun out some
unusual films, and having been a child of the 80’s, I just so happened to watch
this one.
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