The Legend of Ochi (2025) A24/Fantasy-Adventure RT: 96 minutes Rated PG (violent content, a bloody image, thematic elements, some language) Director: Isaiah Saxon Screenplay: Isaiah Saxon Music: David Longstreth Cinematography: Evan Prosofsky Release date: April 18, 2025 (US, limited)/April 25, 2025 (US, wide) Cast: Helena Zengel, Finn Wolfhard, Emily Watson, Willem Dafoe.
Rating: ***
Finally, somebody gets it! That somebody is Isaiah Saxon, the writer-director of The Legend of Ochi, a dark fantasy modeled after the cool movies they used to make in the 80s. I’m talking about The Dark Crystal, The NeverEnding Story and E.T. It’s a nifty throwback that uses no CGI. I repeat, NO CGI! It’s all practical effects, puppetry and animatronics. I’ve been saying for years that filmmakers need to make movies like they used to. It appears that Saxon heard me and took my advice. I say that facetiously, of course.
The story is set in a northern village on the fictional island of Carpathia located somewhere on the Black Sea. The movie was actually filmed in Romania, Transylvania to be exact. I knew it without even checking the credits. The locations in The Legend of Ochi look very Eastern European. I say this with a degree of authority. My wife is from Romania and I’ve been there three times. I could tell. I can’t wait to show this movie to her when it comes on streaming.
On this island, the inhabitants lead a simple life unbothered by the BS of the outside world. The only thing they have to fear are wild creatures known as Ochi. This guy Maxim (Dafoe, Nosferatu) heads a crew of young boys who hunt the Ochi. His adoptive son Petro (Wolfhard, Stranger Things) is into it; his biological daughter Yuri (Zengel, News of the World) isn’t. She loves all creatures great and small. Needless to say, she and her father butt heads.
One evening while checking the traps in the woods, she finds a baby Ochi caught in one of them. She frees the frightened animal, tends to its wounds and decides to take it home to its family. It’s a perilous journey across the untamed landscape. All the while, she and her new friend are pursued by Maxim and his boys.
Emily Watson (Breaking the Waves) shows up as Dasha, a rough and rugged woman who renders aid to Yuri after she’s bitten by her Ochi. As is so happens, Dasha is her mother. She walked out on her family many years earlier leaving Maxim bitter and resentful. He won’t even allow her name to be spoken in his house. Of course, Dasha also knows a lot about the Ochi.
Saxon, who cut his teeth on music videos (most notably, Bjork’s “Wanderlust”), might be a brave new voice in film. I know that sort of remark is typically reserved for filmmakers who redefine cinema in some way. While The Legend of Ochi isn’t a total game changer, I’m hoping it helps shift cinema in the right direction, away from $100M+ noisefests and back towards smaller movies with heart and soul. It cost only $10M to make and looks 10 times more impressive than Minecraft. It doesn’t look like a damn video game! To me, that’s a deal maker. Saxon has the right idea here; I hope he continues on this path with future projects.
It might be smaller scale, but that doesn’t make The Legend of Ochi any less impressive. It’s amazing what can be done with a limited budget. Take the opening scene where Maxim takes his boys on a night hunt in the woods. If you thought the opening of E.T. was intense, wait until you get a load of the action here. Saxon puts you right in the thick of the action with the boys shooting at the Ochi as they jump through the trees trying to escape. While decidedly dark for a film aimed at young audiences, it has humorous moments like a visit to a supermarket that turns into something like the S-Mart bit from Army of Darkness.
Zengel does a great job as Yuri, the somewhat somber heroine who discovers she can communicate with the Ochi. Somehow she knows their language which consists of high-pitched sounds. Here’s where we see how truly clever The Legend of Ochi is. Rather than have the creatures learn human speak from Yuri, she speaks their language. Dafoe delivers another unhinged performance as the father who goes around dressed as a Spanish conquistador. Watson is good as the absent mother who comes through for her daughter. Wolfhard is fine as the favored son; he’s just not given a lot to do.
I can’t say enough good things about the effects in The Legend of Ochi. You can tell it’s the work of humans not computers. The Ochi, simian-like beasties with bright colors in their fur, look tangible. That’s more than you can say about anything in Minecraft. I truly hope other filmmakers take a cue from Saxon and use more practical effects in their movies.
The Legend of Ochi isn’t perfect. It has some rough edges, but it’s still a solid first effort from an artist with a bright future. It’s a fun movie with a dark edge. You might not want to bring smaller children to see it. It might be too dark for them. For the youngsters who don’t care about “chicken jockeys”, it’s ideal entertainment. 14YO Movie Guy would have loved it.
