In the special effects and make-up circles within Hollywood, Robert Kurtzman is already a legend. Pick any number of horror movies over the past 22 years and Kurtzman most likely had a hand in crafting the visual effects or creating the look of various creatures. From Evil Dead II, Bride of Re-Animator, Army of Darkness, Bubba Ho-Tep, Devil's Rejects and Wishmaster to bigger Hollywood movies like Misery, The Green Mile, and From Dusk Till Dawn, which was his own original idea, Kurtzman has left his own unique and bloody imprint on the genre. Robert Kurtzman is also the guy behind the visuals of the 2003 Hulk movie and Minority Report.

In 2007, after directing Wishmaster, The Demolitionist and Buried Alive, Kurtzman took a seat behind the camera to direct the zombie movie The Rage, about an out-of-control virus that turns people into flesh eating mutants. To give horror fans a second helping of holiday treats on November 27, The Rage is part of Monster HD's "Thanksgiving Day of the Dead" 24 hour marathon, which slides into the horror roster alongside George Romero's classic Day of the Dead, Resident Evil, Pet Semetary 1 and 2, Bride of Re-Animator, and all three Return of the Living Dead movies.

With the holiday and "Thanksgiving Day of the Dead" almost upon us, Robert Kurtzman gave us some exclusive one-on-one time to talk turkey, zombies, fear of politics, the evolution of CGI, going to the drive-in, and what life is like now that some technology within Minority Report has become a reality.

THE DEADBOLT: For The Rage, was it difficult to separate the terror between the thought of what the virus could do and what it did to the people?

ROBERT KURTZMAN: The terror of what it could do if it kept spreading through the animal population and human population and where that would go. You know, the bloodthirsty element of it is just a part of it.

THE DEADBOLT: Why do you think people are so fascinated by zombie movies?

KURTZMAN: The fear of having your flesh eaten by another human being, because that's what it is for me. That's why I've always loved zombies. It's the fear of being eaten alive while you're just witnessing someone devouring your inner organs while you're still alive. Even if you can't move, or your body doesn't function, your mind is still alive and you're watching this and it's horrifying..

THE DEADBOLT: So it's kind of like some primal thing, like how people are afraid of sharks?

KURTZMAN: Right, because you're afraid of feeling those teeth go right through your body. And with other things, there's fear of disease and fear of - There's also the taboo of eating human flesh, which is just a natural taboo with us. Nobody really wants to have to eat someone to survive, let alone be a zombie.

THE DEADBOLT: Since you could compare some experiments in the film to cloning, how do you feel about that in real life? Does that stuff terrify you?

KURTZMAN: Well, in The Rage it wasn't so much cloning as it was trying to find the mutant gene to transform everyone and then eventually trying to find the thing that would then save him. So he was killed by his own mistake. They do terrify me in only where it might be misused. There are certain benefits in it if they can ever figure that out, which is obviously harvesting your own organs. But to take them from another living thing is always the issue so you have to weigh the moral issues there. But I think in the future it's probably going to be a mainstay. People can just call up the doctor, give him some genes, and he can grow something for them.

THE DEADBOLT: Since the scientist in the film was a Communist, and his experiments were taken away when the Wall fell, can the fear of the unknown in politics also enhance the terror?

KURTZMAN: Yeah. I'm curious to see where the next ten years are going, you know? The fear of government and stuff again; the misuse of power. But I mean there's always been the talk that Cancer, there's been leaps and bounds that have been suppressed. Same as the oil business suppresses certain findings in fuel efficient cars, because they want that oil money. But it's the same with the medical field. I'm sure there are things that are kept from us so that there's money to be made and that's worth more than human life to some people. So when they screwed him over, that's what triggers his rage.

THE DEADBOLT: On a lower budget project, is there a different type of creativity that you tap into than when you're working on something bigger?

KURTZMAN: There is. You have to look at it with certain filmmaking techniques in mind that you can achieve on a smaller schedule or budget. So you have to be frugal and figure out an effective but cost saving way of doing things and achieving things. On a bigger film you just have more people, a bigger crew, you have more artists working with you. Sometimes you have a longer schedule, but it used to be that you had time for R&D on projects.

Over the last 10-15 years it's kind of just - You know, they already set their date. They just tell you, "Look, you got ten weeks to build it. That's all you've got and it has to work." The R&D period just kind of went away and it's all about money, they don't want to spend the money for the long preps. So even on the bigger films there are challenges because of that. But the bonus is you've got more toys, you've got more fancy cameras, you've got the ability to do optical shots or green screen shots and things like that, that are harder to pull off on smaller movies with a three or four week shooting schedule.

THE DEADBOLT: After being influenced by John Carpenter, John Landis, Joe Dante, and since you've worked with a ton of other legends since, is it easy to spot and define your own style?

KURTZMAN: Yeah. I think it's just a matter of you learn things from them. But each project is different so your style may change depending on the subject matter. But the good thing about being on set with all of those filmmakers is that you really learn what you have to do to work within the system with a full crew and everything. And you have to learn mainly how to get your vision across to the others that are working with you. So that's kind of the bonus working with all of those greats. From Sam Raimi to Toby Hooper or whoever, you are able to pick up little things that they do and how they interact with people and how they deal with artists and how they convey their vision. That's really what you learn from them. I mean, you kind of, when you're making your movies, your movies usually have some of your personality in them. So that's what makes it your own.

THE DEADBOLT: Did you ever see From Dusk Till Dawn at a drive-in?

KURTZMAN: Yes, I did, actually. At the Wenecca Drive-In in Chatsworth [California]. They had a sixplex through six screen. I took pictures of it on the marquee, everything. And part of that was because Dusk is a drive-in movie. The title actually comes from a drive-in when I was in high school. I would go to all night drive-ins with my buddies. Get a bunch of beer and we'd watch from dusk 'til dawn at the drive-in. It was five movies in a row, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead. You know, good movies like Beast in the Cellar, Blood Beach and that kind of thing. So that's where the title came from.

THE DEADBOLT: I was always scared at the drive-in because you can't always tell what's around you.

KURTZMAN: [laughs] Yeah. My only problem with the drive-in is with all of the new sound systems and everything. I mean, you really have to have your car decked out to get the full experience. And the bulbs are never as bright as the interior theaters where it's kind of a little hazy. And if it's a dark movie like The Cave, I saw at the drive-in a year ago and I couldn't see anything. [laughs] I was like, "What's happening in this movie?"

THE DEADBOLT: With the evolution of CGI and now HD, how has the special effects industry changed since that's been introduced?

KURTZMAN: Well, at first with Jurassic Park, we were working and the test animation for Jurassic Park was kind of circulating among effects guys. We were all crapping our pants, "Oh, my God. There's never going to be anything for us anymore." But it did kind of phase out big creatures, because the big creatures, when you build them mechanically, you're kind of limited to doing close-ups or parts of them. But you can't really get a dinosaur to run down the street as a mechanical. So it kind of changed that and creature effect films kind of segued more into the CGI realm. And then it's kind of balancing out right now because there's a nice merger and mix of the tools. So there are times when they compliment each other very well. And I think digital work in movies when used right, and in conjunction with other things when you can do them, it's the best way to go.

As far as HD cinema, I'm pro HD. I shot a couple of films HD, my last film, To Live and Die, which might go through a title change. But we shot HD on that, on the Viper. It streamlines the post system for me and the production - I'm able to shoot more footage and not be burning film, which is way more costly. But it also enables us - As a director you can leave the camera rolling and get a lot of different things out of your actors without having to cut and re-set up and break the moment. So you can just let the camera roll for ten minutes and do ten different takes. There's a little more freedom in that sense. And I also like it because, depending on the cameras you're using, get into a lot more cramped environments and spaces and not have to have sets with fly-away ceilings and stuff to get the shots, because you can get up on a ladder with a smaller camera and shoot something. And now the resolution is really coming up there, so there's a lot of production going that way.

THE DEADBOLT: I know The Rage is only a year old, but is there any talk of a sequel?

KURTZMAN: Yeah, we have something in mind but it's the same old thing. Certain things financially have to fall into place to put that together and if the opportunity arises we'll be doing it. But right now everything is in flux with the economy and everything. A lot of independent financers, hedge funds and everything that were funding Hollywood, are kind of going down the crapper.

THE DEADBOLT: With this Thanksgiving coming up and The Rage part of the Monster HD's "Thanksgiving Day of the Dead" marathon, what do you think about celebrating the holiday with zombies and human flesh instead of turkey?

KURTZMAN: [laughs] Well, I think it's kind of funny. But for me and I don't know if this is what the guys had in mind. When I was growing up, Thanksgiving weekend was the monster movie weekend. There were always horror films on over the weekend. Like King Kong was always on every Thanksgiving. I mean, I couldn't wait until Thanksgiving because King Kong was going to be on again. We had The Wizard of Oz on the same weekend every year, too. You know, we had late night horror host shows like Galardi and the Ghoul and Big Chuck and Little John. And then Saturday's we had Super Host and then they had the Saturday and Sunday afternoon movies, which were always repeated on Sunday. So all of these movies on Thanksgiving weekend had some sort of - It was either Sinbad movies or genre movies with monsters and King Kong.

THE DEADBOLT: So this is like a tradition for you?

KURTZMAN: Yeah. It felt like it because I laughed when they said they were doing the zombie movie weekend. And my first thing was, "Oh yeah, turkey and flesh. Oh yeah, okay. Monster movie weekend."

THE DEADBOLT: It's been about seven years since you worked on Minority Report so I wanted to get your take on some of the things in the movie that are now becoming a reality?

KURTZMAN: Yeah, that's what's cool. Like that whole screen and touching things to move around on the computer is out now.

THE DEADBOLT: That's what I was thinking about.

KURTZMAN: But at the time they were doing that it was burgeoning technology that they actually incorporated into the movie. They did research on that and found a lot of that stuff and brought in the guys designing it to help as advisors on the movie. So it was already in the works when that came out, they were just kind of jumping ahead ten years.