The Peanut Butter Solution: A Psychological Experiment/Attack?

ATS, a few years back I stumbled on a film called La Cabina-- a very good short film which aired late night UK, Canada and seemed to leave a lasting impression on many of its viewers. If you're curious, you can check out a thread I posted on it a while back:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

The comments I read prompted me to search for movies which affected people as children, and I found several references to the movie The Peanut Butter Solution (1985). Reading the comments/blogs about this film was really interesting to me. For one, I read multiple comments to the effect that the person saw this as a kid (Canada showed this movie to kids at school, according to several accounts I read), was terrified by it, had nightmares about it for years, weren't sure if they had actually seen the movie or dreamt it, and several said that they would describe the movie to other people who would act like they were crazy. Just check out the first two comments for this film, and you will get the gist.

really got into my psyche
Thrusday5 October 2004
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?

The movie that never gets out of your head!
ordonet4 February 2003
It took me ages to find the name of this movie, a movie I had watched as a child and had really really frightened me! I've been searching for this movie for YEARS! and i could only remember some parts of the film, when asking others if they remember the movie, they would look at me as if I'm crazy!!.. seems like a common thing reading all the other users comments, anyway.. This film is full of imagination, suspence, and is over all Fun and Scary for little kids.. it might even be scary for Adults too.. come on, a guy goes bold from being frightened? .. I was frightened all the time as a kid, perhapse i thought i was going to go bold! .. anyway if you havent seen this movie you should! its one of my favourites from childhood, up with the goonies!

The comments seem SO strange to me. The subject matter of the film- baldness, ghosts, isolation/bullying, "absent or away" mother, child labor and kidnapping-- is obviously disturbing, which is the most likely explanation for the odd reviews... BUT I do wonder if a film-maker could launch a psychological attack on children using film? If that is a thing certain people might study (I saw the director has studied film at Stanford) or do?

Here's a link to The Peanut Butter Solution's Imdb page in case you want to check it out. The film is availabe online to watch also (I personally couldn't get through it- it just looked terrible not terrifying to me).
www.imdb.com...
A quick search on google will show you many articles people wrote about this film (movie that scars, scariest film ever etc).
jezebel.com...

I just find it all very strange... thoughts?

I do think you are on to something worth looking into, zosi. 👍

The connection with Stanford (can you say CIA research and Human-Use experimentation?) along with the subject material and personal accounts while possibly coincedental are suggestive enough to want to know more.

This film was shown at school?

a reply to: zosimov

Haven't seen peanut butter.
But a hell of a weird and freaky film called Alice came out in 1988, and is a take on Alice in Wonderland. The film is off and leaves me feeling gross.

originally posted by: The GUT

This film was shown at school?

Crazy, isn't it? I read several accounts saying their class had been shown this right before Christmas break! Will try to find some sources.

Here's one example (I think it was also shown for its Quebecois roots):

An incredibly cruel Elementary School teacher forced my first grade class to watch this terrifying movie on more than one occasion. She seriously made us watch it over and over again, most likely to avoid having to actually teach us something worth while. I remember being traumatized by it and I developed a complex that all of my hair was going to fall out from having viewed it. My girlfriend recently borrowed a VHS copy from the library and we watched it for nostalgic purposes. I don't know what the hell I was so disturbed by when I was a kid. I must have been a real pussy, because the movie isn't the least bit scary. In fact, it's a real piece of garbage. Terrible acting (especially from that Asian kid from Degrassi Junior High) , appallingly bad clichéd dialog, dreadful soundtrack (Celine Dion) with an endless cast of Stereotypes. I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy.

Another:

I remember watching it at school when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. I was scared but I loved it. I've been trying 2 find it 4 awhile now and finally did. I reccommend this 4 old kids. It might might scare younger ones. Don't watch it if u get scared easily. However, I think that most people will enjoy this movie.

a reply to: zosimov

Is this it?
www.youtube.com...

I fast-forwarded it to the end and it doesn't seem to be all there though.
The sound is also really bad. I know it says, "trailer", but it's most of the movie...

I hope this helps.

Never mind, I see that someone else has posted a LOT better (full) version.

Hope you don't mind, Zosimov:

What a coincidence. I was thinking about the PB Solution recently.
Yes they showed it to us in elementary school. I probably seen it 2 or 3 times.
The last day of school before holidays is a do nothing party day. Watch movies, eat chips. The average public school's selection of films were pretty slim.

a reply to: The GUT

Not at all!!! Thank you!

originally posted by: ThickAsABrick
The average public school's selection of films were pretty slim.

I was also wondering if this was a good explanation, few films to chose from and perhaps it was a fad or somehow made it on a curriculum list for a year or two.

Funny coincidence!

a reply to: atsgrounded

Just a quick browse and it looks creepy indeed!

a reply to: zosimov

Holy ishhtt

That movie freaked me out as a kid but was very intriguing. It really stuck with me.

Just a couple months ago I decided to look it up and found it. I made my 13 year old watch it to see if she had any reaction. Nope just lame. I fell asleep it was terrible.

The reason I wanted to watch it though was to see if it was some psyop or major esoteric movie. Definitely didn’t get that as an adult.

originally posted by: zardust
a reply to: zosimov

The reason I wanted to watch it though was to see if it was some psyop or major esoteric movie. Definitely didn’t get that as an adult.

This is exactly what I was wondering, and I did not get any of that vibe while watching the little I could take either!

Thanks for commenting, a very interesting perspective!

a reply to: zosimov

And to add to both you and zardust's observations: I've dug around into the director & writers a bit (the director was also listed as a writer) and haven't found anything too suggestive. The Directors bio shows some possible IC "tells" but nothing else bears it out so far. I dug around the distributor a bit too with nothing jumping out there either.

originally posted by: zosimov
ATS, a few years back I stumbled on a film called La Cabina-- a very good short film which aired late night UK, Canada and seemed to leave a lasting impression on many of its viewers. If you're curious, you can check out a thread I posted on it a while back:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Check out the short in zozimov's other thread y'all. I did---well worth it.

As a child I had recurring nightmares about this movie, specifically the scene when the kid crawls up to the window and gets his hair scared off. Something about the concept of seeing something so frightening that your hair would fall out led my brain to imagine a whole panoply of terror filled imagery for my fecund dreaming mind, night after night.....

a reply to: The GUT

This is exactly what stopped my search a few months back, lol. Found nothing too untoward and well, set it aside for a while (meaning to make a thead on this for some time, as I knew that if anyone could find some interesting info on the subject it would be our members here).

Thanks for mentioning La Cabina here! I completely agree that it is well worth the watch.

a reply to: Wayfarer

I think maybe a lot of the concepts are just psychologically horrifying (hair loss, among other horrors mentioned in OP) which would explain the nightmares...



Lots of other comments like yours. I've seen and heard of other movies that scared kids but the reccuring nightmares are just weird.

Sounds awful, would hate to have that night after night.

originally posted by: Wayfarer
As a child I had recurring nightmares about this movie, specifically the scene when the kid crawls up to the window and gets his hair scared off. Something about the concept of seeing something so frightening that your hair would fall out led my brain to imagine a whole panoply of terror filled imagery for my fecund dreaming mind, night after night.....

Interesting that this seems pretty widespread. And seemed to "work" especially well--maybe even exclusively--on the adolescent mind. Maybe there is more to it after all. Definitely of some psychological interest, I'd say, whether crafted that way or not.

My Freud is rusty---did he have any theories about the fear of the loss of hair?

originally posted by: The GUT

originally posted by: Wayfarer
As a child I had recurring nightmares about this movie, specifically the scene when the kid crawls up to the window and gets his hair scared off. Something about the concept of seeing something so frightening that your hair would fall out led my brain to imagine a whole panoply of terror filled imagery for my fecund dreaming mind, night after night.....

Interesting that this seems pretty widespread. And seemed to "work" especially well--maybe even exclusively--on the adolescent mind. Maybe there is more to it after all. Definitely of some psychological interest, I'd say, whether crafted that way or not.

My Freud is rusty---did he have any theories about the fear of the loss of hair?

There were a couple elements specifically about that scene that upon reflection later on in adult life I think I've managed to glean from it.

1.) As a kid I don't actually remember seeing whatever it was the kid saw to scare him (probably because I was covering my eyes), so it allowed my imagination to run wild with possibilities. Upon watching it as an adult the it just seems entirely un-frightening and anti-climactic so obviously has something to do with an adolescent undeveloped mind....

2.) His scream, both the expression he makes (as wide open as his mouth can get) with the very sound/tenor of his scream evoked this kind of guttural terror in me. I anecdotally noticed also that when experiencing night terrors, the same face/scream was a common element, so I've suspected there is some deep rooted brain mechanisms in play (likely with the amygdala and facial recognition elements interacting in some way).

The thing that hits me the most about this is...
The movie came out in 1985, and so many of you watched it as a "kid".
God I feel old now.