WIRE Buzz: Ryan Phillippe comes ‘Alive’ for Frankenstein; Hellboy’s ‘giant’ problem; MoviePass revival

Cops and corpses will soon combine to put a modern spin on the classic Frankenstein story, and Ryan Phillippe will be right at the reanimated center of it all in Alive — the newly-revealed name of the horror drama that CBS had previously waved through for a pilot episode.

Phillippe (Shooter) will have to unravel his own murder mystery as homicide cop Mark Escher — a San Francisco officer who starts questioning why life’s not quite the same, once he’s brought back from the dead after being killed in the line of duty, Deadline reports. The idea behind the new show is to unfurl Alive’s Frankenstein story along the lines of a police procedural, according to the report. 

No longer his old self once he’s reappeared following a six-month absence, Escher and his medical examiner wife Elizabeth (Arrow’s Katrina Law) must uncover the secrets of Dr. Victor Frankenstein (played by Mad Men’s Aaron Staton) — including the reason why the good doctor chose Escher for his mad lab experiment in the first place. Thickening the plot far beyond Mary Shelley’s original tale is the fact that Dr. Frankenstein and Elizabeth — gasp! — share a romantic past. 

So far, no debut date for Alive has been announced — but we’ll be watching the skies for signs of when lightning will strike.

If you’re worried David Harbour could possibly miss any comedic beats when he rises from the inferno as Hellboy, a quick gander at his screen chemistry with American Gods’ Ian McShane should quench any remaining fires of doubt. 

Ahead of next month’s release of the Neil Marshall-directed reboot, there’s a devilish new clip pairing Harbour and McShane (as Trevor Bruttenholm, Hellboy’s totally unsympathetic adoptive dad) — and it’s almost enough to make us want to get up off the couch:

As you can see, one of these guys clearly has his act together, and the other one…is hungry. But with giants to fight and the pizza getting cold, we’re guessing Hellboy will find a way to reluctantly drag himself toward the call of duty. After all, he may be a deathless half-demon — but would you want to defy Ian McShane?

Watch for Hellboy to scorch into theaters beginning April 12.

Finally, MoviePass is reportedly giving the whole fixed-price moviegoing game yet another try. In a newly-massaged restructure of its ever-changing subscription plan, the beleaguered service is once again attempting to give customers the chance at a daily trip to the theater, according to Deadline.

In a shift away from its most recent, multi-tiered subscription setups that arrived late last year, MoviePass is reportedly moving to a $14.95 per-month “uncapped” attendance model that once again is aimed at letting subscribers see one movie per day. Buying a year’s worth of access knocks the price down to $9.95 per month, but pricing and availability for both schemes is reported to be available only for a limited time. 

As many early MoviePass adopters have come to expect by now, the new plan comes with additional caveats: the menu of eligible movies is still reportedly limited to “a large selection of blockbusters and independent films,” and is subject to “network demand and availability.”

If the cons sound like they outweigh the pros, you can find out more by heading over to the MoviePass website.