'Cooties' Star Armani Jackson Teases Plenty Of Scares and Laughs In New Zombie Film

Young boys have teased girls for having "cooties" for years. The idea of the fictional childhood disease gets a whole new meaning in the new movie "Cooties," where if you have it, you resemble a monster that can be found on "The Walking Dead." Armani Jackson, known for playing the "Bubble Boy" on "Grey's Anatomy," stars in the film as a student trying to avoid getting cooties along with his teachers. The 11-year-old actor spoke to International Business Times about "Cooties" and what people can expect when they see it.

"When people hear the name they think it's a children's movie, but it's really gory, there's a lot of special effects, and at the premieres I've gone to, people have screamed a lot " Jackson told IBT.

"Cooties" is a horror/comedy starring Elijah Wood, Rainn Wilson, Alison Pill, Jack McBrayer and Nasim Pedrad. It was also written by "Saw" and "Insidious" co-creator Leigh Whannell and "Glee" co-creator Ian Brennan. The movie is about elementary school children who turn into killer zombies because of a cafeteria food virus. The teachers have to come together to escape the school and survive, all while arguing amongst themselves.

Jackson plays Calvin in the film, a "nerd" who is indoors reading when the virus spreads. The teachers find him inside and take him along on their journey as he helps them.

Jackson didn't have to put on zombie make-up for the film, but he did have to get fake blood splattered on him for a chase scene where they are attacked by the kids. He said he was the quickest one to get done with make-up compared to the zombie kids.

"All the kids would be sitting in chairs for like an hour doing their make-up," Jackson dished. "One of the kids felt sick because he had too much make-up on and when he looked in the mirror he scared himself."

During filming, Jackson said there was a time on set where he was legitimately scared by the cootie kids on set.

"We were shooting a scene around midnight and I was really tired so I forgot we were in the middle of shooting, so I would daze off while standing there looking at a board. Suddenly these cootie kids came up from behind me and they scared me because I forgot we were filming and I ended up running, so it probably looks really believable," Jackson said.

With so many famous comedic actors cast in the movie, Jackson said he had a good time filming. The child actor revealed that his favorite star to work with was McBrayer of "30 Rock" and "Wreck-It Ralph."

"We hung out a lot of the set and he was the main person I was with on set, along with our friend Sunny (May Allison)," he said.

The movie was filmed almost two years ago, however the ending was re-shot, which is why the horror-comedy flick is getting released now. After "Cooties," Jackson will appear in the upcoming movie "The Last Witch Hunter," which also stars Elijah Wood and Vin Diesel.

"Cooties" hits theaters Friday, Sept. 18. The trailer can be seen below: