In an interview with Vox, Aster defined how he did not see the Harga folks as a cult … however as a “neighborhood” and a “household.” 

To them, they’re in sync with their traditions, the earth, and the altering seasons; they’re in contact with themselves and one another about their ceremonial practices. They do not seem as harmful … as Aster says, there’s “no mustache-twirling or arched eyebrows.” They usually genuinely imagine they’re doing the proper factor.

Aster defined that his notion of the Harga neighborhood trusted the place he was within the filmmaking course of.

“… After I was working with the Swedish actors, it was essential to me that [the villagers, called the Harga] not be menacing. They are not foreboding. There’s nothing foreboding about them. They love this world. They imagine in what they’re doing. They’re completely truthful. They love one another. They’re simply fully in contact with themselves and their lives and one another. That is all it was with them.”