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“I’m all about watching a good ‘Dr. Pimple Popper’ video, but this is where I draw the line,” she says. “This is a ‘Dr. Pimple Popper’ horror.”

The goo emerges when a mysterious force takes hold of a child she’s babysitting. Other children at a park begin exhibiting bizarre behavior and appear to be possessed. Often, they move in sync.

“It was really incredible being able to see such talent that was excited to be on set and be part of a movie,” Gomez adds. “They were just so well-behaved and enthusiastic.”

The synchronized moves come with experience. “A lot of the kids were actually part of a cheerleading team and a gymnastics team,” Gomez says. “They were really in tune. If you’re going to work with kids, it’s good to get one that’s on a team because they’re used to that.

“Victoria (Firsova, who plays Zaley) is so good. She went from creepy, scary girl to real life. And she’s the sweetest, person I think I’ve ever met. She’s so intelligent for her age, asking us deep questions and being able to switch on and off (the character).”

In the course of getting out of the threatening world, Gomez, a former “Dancing with the Stars” winner, calls on her friend Marco, played by Aaron Dominguez. He encounters his own challenges, injures a foot and has to deal with one shoe on and one shoe off. Instead of running barefoot, he wore a fake foot. When his feet were visible, “they ended up splitting my boot in half into like a sandal,” Dominguez says.

That helped “Hive’s” action scenes and added to Marco’s heroism.

“There are a lot of layers that ‘Hive’ touches on,” Dominguez says. “One can say, ‘What is the “Hive” mind? Or ‘What is the “Hive” mind in real life?’ It’s up to the audience’s interpretation.”

Shot in 19 days, “Hive” is based on a short film written and directed by Felipe Vargas. It uses playground equipment as potential threats and portals to another world.

“We shot out of sequence, so the most difficult part with the makeup is going from a scene where I’m gross and bloody into one where I’m not,” Gomez says. “But the makeup with (Dominguez’s foot) is worse.”

“It was predominantly soggy,” he admits.

And those oozing facial sores? Very disturbing.

“I hadn’t seen a full concept,” Gomez says. “But when we shot that first scene, it freaked me out.”

"Hive" (TV-MA, 91 minutes) streams on Tubi.