You're Dead Meat- My Favorite SM Story
- J.J. Ward
- Feb 8, 2021
- 3 min read
My favorite social media story would have to be "The Kill Count" series on the popular horror movie YouTube channel Dead Meat. The best way to breakdown what "The Kill Count" is would be by quoting the first line of every episode “Welcome to the Kill Count, where we tally up the victims in all our favorite horror movies!”
Dead Meat started on YouTube on January 6, 2017 and has since been a place to capture all things good and bad about the horror/suspense/slasher genre. In the five years of this channel's life, it has amassed 4.67 million subscribers, 562+ videos, and 1,579,346,614+ views overall. The channel not only includes the popular series "The Kill Count" hosted by James A. Janisse, but also includes videos of the Dead Meat podcast hosted by Chelsea Rebecca, and other miscellaneous videos related to the channels content.
The first "Kill Count" episode covered "Friday the 13th" (1980) and was published on April 7, 2017. Since then, the series has had over 264 episodes. Movies covered range from classic horror like “Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984) to newer horror such as “IT" (2017) and even international horror like “Bloody New Year" (1987). Miniseries within the series will often be found with movies that have had multiple sequels or prequels that have come out since the original movie. For instance when James covered the Halloween franchise from the first “Halloween" (1978) to the last “Halloween" (2018) and the nine other movie sequels, prequels, and remakes in between.
"Kill Counts" are almost always structured with the video starting off with a brief description of the movie and historical or behind the scenes facts about the movie or crew. James will then give a scene-by-scene synopsis and when a kill happens, he will put a graphic on the screen. That graphic includes the name of the character, how many minutes into the movie they died, and a description of the kill. At the end of the movie breakdown, James moves on to the numbers where he breaks down how many people died in the movie and as well as the age range and sex of those who met their fate. Lastly, he gives out two awards, the first being the “Golden Chainsaw” for coolest kill and the second being the “Dull Machete” for the lamest.
Most videos are sprinkled with interesting tidbits throughout. During scene break downs, James will often pull information about that specific scene from interviews of those working on the film. This gives the audience a well-rounded look at how these films were created from the sets, costumes, makeup, and special effects.
"Kill Count" is a successful way to tell stories. It shows the behind the scenes of these films which peaks the interests of not only avid horror movie lovers, but also people who might not tune into the genre. To be honest, I hate horror movies and I cannot remember the last time I ever fully watched one. However, I find myself super excited when a new "Kill Count" is uploaded because it feels like an approachable, informative, and often funny way to interact with a genre I otherwise avoid at all cost. Linked below is my favorite "Kill Count" for y’all to check out. If you get hooked like I am, do not worry, there are plenty more videos to watch. Make sure to check out Dead Meat on YouTube or on Instagram or Twitter at @deadmeatjames to see what else they have to offer.
Comments