Independent Film Festival Boston 2009

Director Cory McAbee in attendance.

From CHICAGO to MAMMA MIA, the musical has steadily been making a comeback. Nowhere is this more evident than on the Web. Viral hits like Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog have expanded the context, range, and reach of this genre into strange, unexpected, and occasionally beautiful new worlds.

…Worlds including Mars, where we find Stingray Sam, an ex-con turned lounge singer. A chance meeting with his old partner, the Quasar Kid, leads to a stylized adventure involving cloning, childnapping, and suspicious scientists.

Cory McAbee (THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT) pioneers the use of wide-open spaces in online content, giving us the same type of entertainment that prevailed on the silver screen in the early days after its inception: serialized westerns and science fiction. But make no mistake—STINGRAY SAM is no dry, theoretical examination of film history and distribution. It’s a rollicking hoot and holler.

Designed to work on a variety of screen sizes (but, really, everything looks best on the big screen), STINGRAY SAM mashes up more genres than you can count and sets them to a greasy blues-rock beat. All narrated by David Hyde Pierce and brought to you by Liberty Chew Chewing Tobacco.

- Brian Tamm