Peanut Butter Solution

Director - Michael Rubbo

Cast- Mathew Mackay, Siluck Saysanasy

Country of Origin - Canada

Distributor - Severin

Number of Discs - 1

Reviewed by - Scott MacDonald

Date- 12/26/2019

   The Peanut Butter Solution has a bit of a reputation for being a traumatizing children's film from the 80's. It is mentioned by certain film fans as a rite of passage of 80's video renters, with the ability to shock and scare in equal measure making it the feature length equivalent to the Swamp of Sadness sequence in the Neverending Story as far as impact goes.  I had not even heard of the Peanut Butter Solution before Severin announced, and as an obsessive video store dweller from the 80's I was surprised to find this extremely creative film, so far away from the time I would have appreciated the most, and it would have had the most impact.

    The Peanut Butter Solution is part of a series of Canadian "tax shelter" films made in Quebec in the 80's.  The films were produced by Rick Demer, a producer who had figured out how to get his children's films to a world audience, and watch them become successful both financially and critically. The Peanut Butter Solution would be the 2nd film in the popular "Tales For All" series, and would be the most well-remembered of those films.

    Mike is a young boy who lives with his Father, and sister. Mike and Suzie's Mother is "gone", but not dead. One day an abandoned squat-house in the neighborhood burned, and Mike alongside his friend Connie. Mike ends up being so scared, that he falls unconscious, the next day he lost all his hair due to the trauma. He then is advised by a pair of homeless ghosts who died in the fire of a "peanut butter solution" to get his hair back. It works too well, and Mike films himself captured in a Paintbrush Factory run by the "Signor", and staffed by other tormented children, while Mike himself is forced to continually grow his hair out to make the paintbrushes at the factory, which also have the ability to paint realistic pictures that one can walk into.

OK, I will stop.

Writing a synopsis of The Peanut Butter Solution is a difficult endeavor, because it is all over the place.   At first I felt it was like an 80's child analog for the dreamlike Eurohorror films I have loved so much over the years, and then I realized that while the analogy would fit, it wouldn't nail the tone of the film. What we have here is a film that feels its story beats were written by a child in a way it feels like the 80's equivalent to Robert Rodriguez's The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D (wow, never thought I'd get to reference THAT). With the dialogue meant to imitate the precise way kids talk.   Because of this The Peanut Butter Solution ends up being one of, if not the weirdest children's films I have yet to see.

    Severin Films issues The Peanut Butter Solution as part of their Severin Kids line. They obviously did so that kids could stop grabbing for copies of the Sinful Dwarf for their family film fix (technically, Sinful Dwarf's Torben Bille was a children's film host, so it's not that far a stretch).  The transfer is presented 1:78:1 with a 1080p AVC encode. Everything here looks pretty fantastic, colors are nicely reproduced and stable. The grain structure is intact, organic, and non-obtrusive. Textures are filmlike, and detail is fine. Audio is handled by a DTS-HD MA track in English that sounds crisp and clear without issue. Extras include a commentary track that features producer Rick Demer, and is an excellent discussion on 80's Quebecois filmmaking. We also get a standard 23 minute interview with Demer, alongside another interview with Siluk Saysanasy who played Connie in the film. the disc is wrapped up with a Tales For All history featurette, and trailers.

The debut release from Severin Kids is strange, wonderful, and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.