If you’re into cult films, physical media, or just love magazines that do things a bit differently, chances are you’ve stumbled across Raygun Magazine. It’s bold, beautifully put together, and unashamedly passionate about movies that live outside the mainstream. At the centre of it all is Tim Murray, the editor who steers Raygun with a mix of film geek enthusiasm and razor-sharp taste.
I recently had the chance to chat with Tim about how Raygun came to be, the ideas driving it, and what it’s like to run a magazine that’s fast-becoming essential reading for collectors and cinephiles alike.
Raygun has such a distinctive identity, bold design, sharp writing. What was your thought process when you started it? Was there a moment where you thought, "I really need to put something out there?”
I’ve been in and around the video industry for more than 30 years, working on and launching numerous trade publications during that time, including Timecode Magazine and RRP Magazine. I’d had what I now refer to as my sabbatical in 2008 and 2009 and sadly in that time RRP folded as a print magazine. I was at a marketing and design agency and everyone in the industry I spoke to said I should be doing something on the trade press – so The Raygun was born in 2010… Been appearing almost every week since, with some minor interruptions…
Your editorial tone is refreshing while still being sharp and informed. How did you shape that, and do you think that film critics should lighten up a bit these days?
I've always treated it as if you’re talking to someone in the pub – someone in the industry or someone who works at a retailer such as HMV at head office or store level – saying "have you seen this?”, “have you heard about this?”. I always try and view it as a combination of the important and the interesting. There’s things you have to have in there, events and titles you have to cover, and other things you’re tipping people the wink on, recommending to them, or just gossiping about. I’m a journalist first and foremost, not a critic. Although I do cover physical media for the print edition of the ever-wonderful Film Stories magazine.
Let’s talk design. Raygun feels tactile, but polished. What’s your approach to how the magazine looks? How important is layout?
The design has pretty much stayed the same; we’re an email newsletter so there’s not a lot you can do design-wise – the ads give it colour. My website is sadly down at the minute – a dear friend who looked after it for me tragically died a couple of years ago, it fell into disrepair and needs re-upping, just not had the wherewithal, spare or time to do it.
You’ve had some brilliant contributors and interview subjects—how do you find collaborators, and what’s your filter for who fits the Raygun?
With The Raygun, I often tie it in to my other work. I write for booklets for assorted Blu-ray releases, often tracking people down and researching stuff, and will always get a comment for use on The Raygun. It’s the same for other publications, both print and online, I write for. I interviewed with Nick Love about piracy on the Football Factory – on its release probably one of the most pirated films ever – for Film Stories around the release of Marching Powder, and had a few Raygun questions so I could include that in there. I’ve had assorted people contribute to the site and newsletter over the years, a lot of trade and industry people I’ve known for donkey’s, the odd journalist or freelancer I like and who can contribute something useful.
When you visualise the Raygun reader, what do you see? If such a person exists? Are you picturing a certain kind of cinephile when you put an issue together?
Someone who does – or did – work in the video or wider film industry. Someone who’s passionate about not just films and TV, but about the industry too.
Since launching, what’s surprised you most, whether it’s about the readership, the indie publishing process, or even just the types of films that seem to resonate?
Currently, I’d say it’s the resilience of physical media despite the onslaught of streaming options. People still like buying and owning nicely packaged discs, holding product in their hands.
Quick one: What’s a film that’s constantly called “underrated”... that you actually think is perfectly rated?
I steer clear of phrases such as underrated, overrated and the likes. Talking on social media about what films are underrated is, in my opinion, overrated.
You get to programme a one-night-only triple feature for the Raygun faithful. What’s on the bill, and where’s it screening?
I did a podcast a while back about films I saw that had influenced my adult life; all were video related, things I’d seen on VHS (I’m a child of the video nasty generation) and had a pivotal effect on me – The Thing, The Exorcist and Dawn Of The Dead, I saw all at an impressionable age and have written extensively about all of them. On another day, I’d say Laurel and Hardy, Zombie Flesh Eaters and Rita, Sue and Bob Too. Maybe at the Scala Cinema circa 1984. Or failing that, at London’s finest new grindhouse, The Nickel. Or, for comfort, at the BFI…
Lastly, is there anything coming up, features, events, or project that you’re especially excited about?
Hopefully I’ll get to London Film Festival this year more than the last year or two, where my attendance has been pitiful. Hopefully, I’ll get to write a lot more for Blu-ray booklets about the history of the video industry. Oh, and got a couple of books in the pipeline too… The Raygun will keep going as long as there’s still an industry to write about – you can subscribe by emailing info@theraygun.co.uk