The Legend of Ochi (2025) – Review

Quick Thoughts 

• Grade – B
• Three years of post-production, months of scouting Romanian mountains, and 200 matte paintings. The Legend of Ochi is a lovingly-crafted A24 family adventure film. I wish more work would’ve been put into the script and characters, but it’s hard to dislike this hand-crafted throwback.
• The Romanian shooting locations are beautiful
• Between The Legend of Ochi,  News of the World and System Crasher, Helena Zengel has proven herself to be a powerhouse actor
• The puppetry and practical effects put a big smile on my face

Shot in eight weeks, and fine-tuned over three years of post-production, The Legend of Ochi is stuffed with 200 matte paintings, painted frames and enough practical effects to make you feel like you’re back in the 1980s watching The Dark Crystal or The Neverending Story. Director/writer Isaiah Saxon (check out the music videos he directed for Grizzly Bear and Björk), started working on the film full-time in 2018 and his artistic expertise has stretched the $10 million budget to create a neat spectacle. On top of the beautiful practical effects, the Romanian landscapes are equally as impressive. Saxon and his wife scouted the Carpathian Mountains of Romania for close to two months and they found themselves in every small village and backyard they could find. The scouting trips were a success because I was tempted to pull out my phone during the movie to learn where the film was shot (I didn’t). The mountainous terrains, windswept valleys and dense forests look incredible and add to the dreamlike vibe of The Legend of Ochi. 

In an interview with The Film Stage, Saxon said that he worked himself to near death to make  The Legend of Ochi “feel like the movies we like feel, which are [Carroll Ballard]’s The Black Stallion –– and Quest for Fire.” He’s mostly successful in his mission as the film blasts the senses, but it would’ve been nice to see him put more interest into the overall story. When making a sensory-blasting experience the visuals often take precedence over the plot due to their difficulty and importance. This is the case with The Legend of Ochi, and it’s a bit of a shame because the high-concept and familiar storyline leave room for an interesting and fully fleshed out world and story. 

The film opens with a nighttime hunting scene led by a ochi killer named Maxim (Willem Dafoe), and a group of local children whom he’s trained to murder the primate-like creatures. The ochi, who have blue facial features and reddish fur eat local wildlife and their presence is so dangerous that a curfew is in place to ensure they don’t attack villagers after the sun sets. During the hunt, an adorable baby ochi is separated from its mom and later in the night the critter gets its leg stuck in one of Maxim’s traps. The next day Maxim’s daughter Yuri (Helena Zengel), finds the injured ochi while checking the traps. Instead of killing the baby ochi, she decides to return it to its home deep within the Carpathian Mountains. What follows is an adventure that includes infected ochi bites, makeshift rafts, and Yuri meeting her mom Dasha (Emily Watson). 

The highlight of the film takes place in a supermarket where a hungry Yuri stops to grab some food after a long night of trekking through the woods. The usage of primary colors (yellow, red, blue) inside the store and in the parking lot works wonders, and it’s the type of scene I wanted more of. What makes the moment work are the small details like the vampire teeth that Yuri wears into the store which adds a fun edge to her dirty yellow jacket, matted hair, and a backpack that seems to have something inside it. The scene ends with a shotgun-yielding store attendant noticing the ochi and the ensuing shopping cart chase and stolen car make the film come alive. 

At a brisk 95 minutes, the film moves along at a breakneck pace which leaves little time for character dynamics and backstory. It’s easy to understand why Saxon didn’t want to make a two-hour film because the extra minutes would’ve added years of post-production. However, the narrative never quite clicks as most of the humans feel superfluous to the story. Finn Wolfhard’s character Petro gets lost in the story and Maxim leading a pre-teen group of ochi killers isn’t necessary. That being said, The Legend of Ochi is still worth watching on the big screen because of the insane amount of work and love that went into it. Saxon went all out for his film and he even hired primate motion choreographer Peter Eilliot, a living legend who has stuffed himself inside ape suits for Congo, Quest for Fire, Greystoke, Gorillas in the Mist, Tarzan, King Kong Lives and even The Omen – to make the ochi creatures come to life. 

Final Thoughts – The Legend of Ochi is a sight to behold, but the intense amount of work spent on the visuals cost the story.