The Crow director Rupert Sanders set out to reboot James O’Barr’s graphic novel for this generation of viewers who may not have been aware of Alex Proyas’ 1994 adaptation. That film, which starred Brandon Lee who tragically died while filming, became a cult classic over the last 30 years.

Though many questioned why The Crow needed a reboot, Sanders says in a press release, “For this story is as universal as an epic poem or Greek myth, it deals with the very primal, naturalistic emotions of love, grief and rage and it also deals with the supernatural and physiological imaginings of heaven and hell, the dead and the undead. It explores the great positive force of love and the great negative force of rage and hate that stands in its shadow, it asks what would we do, but also what would we have become by doing so. When Eric slumps to the floor, covered in the blood of the slain, we look deep into his eyes and he asks us… why?”

In the new film, Bill Skarsgård takes the mantle as Eric Draven, a man who watches as the love of his life, Shelly Webster (FKA twigs), is brutally murdered. He is then killed by the same perpetrators. In the afterworld, he is given the chance to save his beloved by sacrificing himself, but he must seek revenge against their killers through his new moniker, “The Crow.”

There is a darker element to the film as the violence is more graphic — the trailer shows a man’s head being blasted off. It feels a bit more like a John Wick-esque action film, but Sanders says it really highlights the love between two people and what they are willing to go to save them.

“The Crow is the original anti-superhero,” says Sanders. “His story is about tragic loss, about dealing with the pain of everything that comes with losing someone you love, something that all of us have or will encounter at some point in our lives. It is about the dark shadow of grief, about what we would do when something so meaningful is taken from us.”

Check out the trailer below:

The Crow releases in theaters on June 7.