CHILD OF PEACH (捉鬼雜牌軍)
dir. Chen Chun-liang & Chiu Chung-hing, 1987
Taiwan. 97 min.
In Mandarin with English subtitles.

FRIDAY, MAY 2 - MIDNIGHT
THURSDAY, MAY 8 - 10 PM
SATURDAY, MAY 24 - 5 PM
THURSDAY, MAY 29 - 7:30 PM

High up in the Himalayas lies the Peach Garden, an idyllic paradise where flora and fauna flourish thanks to the natural power of the Sword of the Sun. When the monstrous Demon King (Huang Chung-yu) invades the Garden to claim the sword for himself, the Garden’s master and his wife send their only son down to Earth where he’s endowed with super-human abilities. Years later, the teenage Peach Kid (Lin Hsiao-lu) teams up with former guardians of the Garden— three shape-shifting superpowered children named Tiny Dog, Tiny Monkey, and Tiny Cock— to banish the Demon King once and for all.

Loosely based on the Japanese fairy tale, Momotarō, and incorporating healthy doses of Journey to the West and Superman lore, CHILD OF PEACH has become the gold standard for Taiwanese action fantasy. The film spawned two semi-related sequels and has since become a cult classic for its barrage of ridiculous ideas, spanning everything from witches and zombies to human-shark hybrids and fruit-based mecha. Its directors, Chen Chun-liang & Chiu Chung-hing, each went on to helm some of the genre’s heaviest hitters (as this series demonstrates), while its star, Lin Hsiao-lu, built her own cottage industry out of playing magically-powered children across films like KUNG-FU WONDER CHILD, KING OF THE CHILDREN, and DRAGON KID.