A24 pivots from elevated horror to elevated cozy kid fantasy with Legend of Ochi

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Matt Patches is an executive editor at Polygon. He has over 15 years of experience reporting on movies and TV, and reviewing pop culture.

As genre enthusiasts continue to heal from the proliferation of the label “elevated horror” over the last decade, A24, which defined the made-up prestige subgenre with films like Hereditary and The Witch, is not looking back. The studio’s new movie The Legend of Ochi affirms the strategy — it’s pure fantasy, elevated only by a detectable dedication to letting filmmakers do their own weird, wonderful things. And in this case, that means sending a cute cuddly lil’ guy on an adventure.

The Legend of Ochi stars German actor Helena Zengel as Yuri, who lives in a gorgeous remote mountain village — and is told to never venture outside after dark. Populating the forests outside that gorgeous remote mountain village are the ochi, which threaten the lives of the humans. Naturally, when Yuri meets a baby ochi, her world is flipped upside down and a verdant odyssey begins.

The film is the brainchild of music video director and animator Isaiah Saxon, who has done everything from the creator-driven DIY.org to directing a stunning Dirty Projectors music video. Saxon’s work is innately tied to nature and being, so it’s no surprise that Legend of Ochi embraces mixed-media to give kid-centric fantasy a refreshing new flavor. The trailer feels like a mix of Moonrise Kingdom, E.T., The Green Knight — and Willem Dafoe is in it for good measure. Finn Wolfhard and Emily Watson round out the cast.

A24 has made it clear that a modern studio needs mainstream hits and a few sturdy IPs under its belt to keep the lights on. For that team, it’s making a Death Stranding movie at some point and cashing in on the horror craze with “elevated” material. Finding a way into the lost-art of all-ages fantasy seems like a logical next step for a group out to prove you can still do it the old fashioned way. At a time when Jim Henson’s kids bemoan the state of Hollywood and say Labyrinth could never get made today, I don’t know… maybe it could?

The Legend of Ochi arrives in theaters on Feb. 28.