“You’ll never look at vampires the same way again,” writer-producer Carlton Cuse promised critics at the Television Critics Association press tour Tuesday.

Cuse showed reporters an extended trailer for the upcoming FX thriller, which had a cool-palette look and cinematic feel. In the first episode, which is directed by Guillermo Del Toro, an airplane lands at JFK and everybody on the plane appears to be dead. It turns out the plane is carrying a mysterious cargo which unleashes a unique strain of vampires as the CDC struggles to control the outbreak. Shots included a very creepy inspection of the corpse-filled plane, a smidgeon of girl-girl sex, a vampire-seeming girl returning home to an ill-advised embrace, and a huge mysterious creature attacking a victim. “We’ve been working on this for 18 months and I think when you see it, it shows,” Cuse says.

The brief sex shot confused some critics into thinking The Strain vampires would be amorous, however. In the books by Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, who also created the show, victims lose their genitals as they convert to being vampires (which would probably have completely prevented Twilight from ever being a thing).

“These are not sparkly brooding dudes with fangs and romantic problems,” Cuse said. “This is a really original re-imagining of vampire lore … there is sex in the show, but the vampires themselves are not having sex. They are not romantic creatures.”

Based upon a three-novel book series, Cuse said he expects The Strain to last between three and five seasons. The first season will cover the first book, and after that producers will decide how far to stretch the two remaining novels. The Strain premieres in July. Here’s a couple more photos: