Earlier this morning, we got our first good look at the transformed The Thing from director Josh Trank’s (Chronicle) comic book adaptation Fantastic Four. Yet another image of Jamie Bell’s CG character from the film has now landed online, along with some interesting tidbits about the film itself.

Trank previously told us that he was inspired by David Cronenberg-ian body horror for his take on Fantastic Four, and in a new interview with EW he goes one further to say the tone is a cross between Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton; he dubs it “Dark Amblin.” Indeed, his take on the property is about viewing superpowers as a curse, as the titular team of scientists become physically altered after an inter-dimensional mission goes wrong.

When X-Men: Days of Future Past scribe/producer Simon Kinberg first signed on to produce Fantastic Four, he was presented with two clear ideas from Trank:

Trank told Kinberg he had two ambitions. First, the film had to feel scary and very real, more like a horror movie than a superhero flick. And second, it ultimately had to be a coming-of-age story. “Part of defining yourself,” Kinberg explains, “is that moment when you go from being dependent to being in control of your destiny.”

What most excites me about Fantastic Four is that, while there is a slight X-Men vibe, it really sounds like Trank and Co. tried to do something different with the superhero genre. We’re being inundated with superhero stories both on the big screen and the small screen at the moment, so what’s the point in taking on a new property if you’re not going to reach for something unfamiliar?

Fantastic Four also stars Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Toby Kebbell, Tim Blake Nelson, and Reg E. Cathey and opens in theaters on August 7th.