Money is always a barrier. The more they give you, the more they expect, so you're always caught short, regardless. I don't think anything I've done was ever budgeted properly for what was expected of me, but that's just the nature of the business, I guess. There certainly are films I did because there was a paycheck attached. It's a working man's world and it doesn't pay to get too idealistic about things like directing low-budget movies if you have a family to think about. I usually try to find something that interests me in each and every project. It's not really possible to phone it in. Making a film with no money or schedule is ten times harder than it is to make a big budget show where you're surrounded by a gang of super-talented people.
Ray was born in Ohio, but grew up in Sarasota, Florida. He claims to know his family tree extensively and to have identified his relation to Queen Elizabeth. He was a passionate film fan, regularly reading Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and being a fan of horror and science fiction films such as Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and the AIP movies of the 1950s and 1960s. He started making his own movies when he was fourteen.
He served in the navy. When he got out he went to work at a local television station. He worked on his first film in 1975, Shock Waves, with Peter Cushing and John Carradine.
He began making movies on the weekend using station equipment, starting with The Brain Leeches (1977) made for $298.
Ray succeeded in raising money for a low budget horror film, Scalps (1983), which featured cameos from Carroll Borland and Forrest J. Ackerman. The Tomb (1986) starred Cameron Mitchell and John Carradine.
Ray switched to action films with Armed Response (1986), which starred David Carradine and Lee Van Cleef. Ray had affection for this movie because "it had a great cast and was one of the first times I had more than two nickels to rub together."
He then turned to science fiction: Deep Space (1987), Cyclone (1987). Beverly Hills Vamp (1988) was a horror comedy with Eddie Deezen.
Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988) was made in only a few days and turned out to be a big hit. Less popular was The Phantom Empire (1988).
After Alienator (1989) he was reunited with Deezen for Mob Boss (1990), another comedy. He entered sword and scorcery movies with Wizards of the Demon Sword (1991) and made the more popular Bad Girls from Mars (1991).
Ray moved into erotic thrillers with Inner Sanctum (1991) starring Tanya Roberts. It was a hit and Ray would make others in that genre, including Inner Sanctum 2, Mind Twister (1994) and Possessed by the Night (1994).
Evil Toons (1992) was a comedy-horror then he co-directed another with Wynorski, Dinosaur Island (1994). Witch Academy (1994) was the last of his "scream queens" movies.
After Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold (1995), he made Fugitive Rage (1996), Friend of the Family II (1996), Inferno (1997), Hybrid (1997), The Shooter (1997).
Dear Santa (1998) was a family film and Billy Frankenstein (1998) a comedy.
In 2001 he made the film Critical Mass. He later said he was a "Critical Mass kind of guy. I like to shoot things and blow stuff up. I also like comedies. Don't like erotic thrillers."
