I'm Maggie Smith, and this is The Slowdown.

I don't watch much television, but I love movies.

I love disappearing into a story for two or three hours, losing sense of time,

and forgetting, for the most part, my own life.

I love becoming so engrossed with the characters

that I forget their actors,

that I forget its make-believe.

I love noticing the use of color and light.

And I love when the music swells,

or when it stops and lets the silence become its own score.

Seeing a good film is always time well spent, but good means something different to us all.

My list of favorite films is pretty varied. It includes quirky

indies like Rushmore and Magnolia, and terrifying horror movies like The Shining and the Babadook.

It might surprise you to know that one of my favorite genres is the zombie movie.

I like my zombies fast, like in train to Busan and 28 days later, and I like my zombies slow,

like in the old classics directed by George Romero.

In Night of the Living Dead, the zombies shamble so slowly, people can run right by them.

They seem unable to figure out doorknobs and fencelatches and cars.

It's black and white, so the gore isn't that gory.

The blood and guts are gray.

It's still scary, though, because the zombies are seemingly uncontainable.

They just keep coming at you.

...