They always strive to be Cronenesque through a combination of the insane and the naturalistic.

Meanwhile, they're getting very adept at their trademark effects, according to Worth. "Now when we have to design a creature and how to ripple under someone's skin and come out, we know what exactly what we're doing: The efficiencies that we have this year are amazing in terms of the pipeline we have at Zoic, and the creative pipeline we have with the writers and them just trusting us."

Bill Desowitz is senior editor of AWN & VFXWorld.