MIDSOMMAR.

• Author: Wolfe, Liz

Fictitious movies about cults are often a little bit sexy. There's a hint of appeal embedded in a commune--a place where all belong. But given the ritual suicide that takes place in the first 30 minutes of Ari Aster's Midsommar, it's pretty obvious he is not trying to sell you on commune life.

By setting orphaned Dani, her boyfriend, and their friends' summer escapades in the Swedish commune Harga, Aster flips the association of evil with darkness, letting the film scare viewers in broad daylight.

The movie--received better by critics than by audiences--explores moral relativism and collectivism. In one poignant early scene, an elderly couple is pushed to kill themselves. The initially...