Dead Meat

Dead Meat is a horror media brand centered on the YouTube channel created by James A. Janisse. Its signature series, The Kill Count, began in 2017 with an episode about Friday the 13th (1980). Each installment follows a horror story through its onscreen deaths and ends with a tally. The format goes beyond counting: Janisse discusses performers, effects, production history, and how particular scenes were made. Two recurring distinctions are the Golden Chainsaw, awarded to a favorite kill, and the Dull Machete, given to a least favorite. Those segments have remained recognizable features as the series has moved between films and franchises.

The Kill Count has covered horror series including Halloween, Scream, Saw, Final Destination, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Its attention to filmmaking carries into the Dead Meat Podcast, hosted by Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca. Rather than following the Kill Count format, the podcast features movie discussions, themed episodes, and horror trivia. Rebecca is also a writer and producer for Dead Meat. Together, the two shows give the organization distinct ways to examine a film: one episode might trace every death in a franchise entry, while another can spend its time discussing the movie as a whole.

Dead Meat has expanded beyond those regular series. The first Dead Meat Horror Awards appeared in 2022, recognizing work in horror through a show dedicated to the genre. Its categories have included films, performances, and craft contributions such as effects. The awards reflect a concern already present in Kill Count episodes: crediting the people whose work makes a horror scene memorable, not only identifying the character who dies in it. Janisse is not the only Kill Count presenter, either. Zoran Gvojic hosted episodes covering the Tremors films, bringing a different voice to the established format.

The channel's programming changed during the 2023 Hollywood labor strikes. Dead Meat shifted away from its usual coverage of studio films affected by the strikes and made Kill Counts about other material, including video games. That departure showed how closely the series' central question depends on its source: counting deaths in an interactive story is different from counting those in a film with a fixed sequence. Across those changes, Dead Meat has kept a specific focus. The Kill Count records and contextualizes horror deaths; the podcast gives Janisse and Rebecca room for longer discussions; and the awards show singles out horror work for recognition. Those projects all grew from the channel that started by counting the victims in Friday the 13th.