Tichina Arnold Reveals Her Biggest Fear

With Halloween season comes a fresh new crop of horror movies for those who love the thrill of all things freakish and frightening. The new movie Countdown, starring actress Tichina Arnold (Martin, Everybody Hates Chris, Survivor’s Remorse) and Jordan Calloway (Drumline, Riverdale, Black Lightning) is among this year’s creepy crop.

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We’re loving the fact that two of our BET alumnae (Arnold co-hosted the 2018 Soul Train Awards and is returning for 2019 and Calloway just starred in the BETHer movie Always a Bridesmaid) are together in this new film, which explores the idea of an app that can predict exactly when you are going to die.

Arnold, who plays Nurse Amy in Countdown, shared in a call with BET.com: “I had to be a part of this project, because it was just a great script! I kept reading it and imagining what if this is real? I would freak out if this was real. My character is totally a reflection of who I am. I’m like, ‘I’m not touching that app!’”

BET spoke with Arnold and Calloway leading up to the film’s release to discuss their would-be Halloween costumes and what horrifies them in real life.

BET: Countdown is about a literal killer app. Is there a particular app that you just can’t live without? 

Arnold: The app that I use all the time is the SAG Aftra app, my union’s app. I could see my health insurance and check everything regarding my business of show. It’s my number-one priority, outside of my daughter, Alijah Kai.

Calloway: Uber Eats. I’ve actually been pretty good, but it can get pretty bad. It can turn into four, five times a week. Like right now I’m dealing with a cold, so I don’t really want to go out in this Atlanta 45-degree weather. I know it’s not brisk, but for me, a California boy, it feels like it. Sometimes you just need some good food… now you got me thinking about food! 

BET: If you could create your very own app, what would it be? 

Arnold: Me. An app that’s about me, and for me, and for people that want to have fun with me. I started working on my own app and I never finished, but I do want to have my own app, just a way that I can communicate with people in a different way and just be a little more personable. I would just randomly tell everyone, “Yeah, guess what guys? I know it’s 2 o’ clock in the morning, but I feel like singing some Dionne Warwick, who’s up for it? I’m also a foodie… I travel the world to eat, at least I try to. I love it. 

Calloway: It seems like there’s an app for everything right now. How about an app to make sure you don’t lose your keys? Do they have an app for that? Or an app that would tell you if a woman’s crazy or not before you date her. And you know what, we can’t be one-sided — we gotta make it for men too. We gotta be able to help the ladies out as well! 

BET: The Countdown app freaks a few folks out in the movie, to say the least. What is that one thing in real life that scares you? 

Arnold: The only thing that freaks me out literally is those water bugs, those big cockroach things. Oh, my God! I will lose it. You want to see me lose it? I almost dropped my baby. Alijah was a baby and I saw one and I almost dropped her and left her there right where the cockroach was. I was outta there. Thank God I didn’t drop my baby. I can’t stand those things, and they haunt me. I’ve gone all the way over to Japan, I did the USO Tour, and honey I got on one of those bases and opened the door, and there were three big cockroaches sitting there waiting for me. I said, “Why me, God, why me?” 

Calloway: Clowns are the one thing that I cannot do. My brother and cousin had me locked in the room with them back when I was 6 years old, and they thought it would be a good idea to have me watch It with them. I had to watch both! That’s where my phobia of clowns came from. On sight, they could catch it — that’s all I’m saying. 

BET: If you were to attend a Halloween party, what would you go as? 

Arnold: I want to do a spin on Maleficent. The Black version — cheekbones and all of that. I would definitely put on my hoop earrings, give her an Afro, just make her a beautiful Black queen. 

Calloway: I kind of wanted to do a group costume with my boys and I’d probably do the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with a twist on it, so it’s like sexy Mutant Ninja Turtles. We sexy turtles… in a shell. You ain’t seen it done yet! It’s probably not gonna happen, but it’s OK to dream! 

Catch Tichina and Jordan in Countdown at a theater near you!