History WebVideo / DeadMeat

* HePannedItNowHeSucks: James got a lot of flak for calling ''Film/Predator2'' and the 1989 ''Literature/PetSematary'' adaptation bad movies in the kill counts of said movies. This trope was [[InvertedTrope actually inverted]] when James gave a rare positive review to Film/{{Unfriended}} in its kill count.

Now includes a GagDub Series called WebVideo/TheyTalk, created by James' editor, Zoran R. Gvojic.

%% Please add examples specific to The Kill Count to its own page.

''[[caption-width-right:350:]]''

[[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2IYWWifoIht9T47z1Z5lJw Dead Meat]] is a horror commentary channel on Website/YouTube founded by James A. Janisse of The Practical Folks in 2017. The channel's primary draw is ''WebVideo/TheKillCount'' series, where James tallies up the body count in horror movies while offering commentary and trivia on the films covered. At the end of each Kill Count, the numbers are tallied up and broken down before the film is awarded a "Golden Chainsaw" and "Dull Machete" for best and worst kill respectively. Besides the Kill Count, other videos are made covering James' various trips to horror conventions, comparing alternate versions of the same film to demonstrate the differences and determine which is the better watch in a series called the ''Cut Comparison'', and interview well-known figures such as actors, content creators, and wrestlers on their favorite horror movies in a series appropriately named ''What's Your Favorite Scary Movie?''

Now includes a GagDub Series called WebVideo/TheyTalk, created by James' editor Zoran.

* AuthorAppeal: James is a big fan of ''Franchise/StarWars'' and Music/DavidBowie and frequently references them in his videos. In particular, he expresses an EvenTheGuysWantHim level of admiration in the ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreetPart2FreddysRevenge'' Kill Count for two random patrons in the S&M bar that resemble David Bowie. James is also a fan of wrestling and was overjoyed to hear how some his favorite wrestlers were fans of his channel and wanted to appear on ''What's Your Favorite Scary Movie?" to talk about their favorite horror movies.

* EveryScarHasAStory: James has a scar on his shoulder; the scar is a result of a cancer scare. He used to tan excessively as part of a fashion trend and he developed a mole that he didn't have examined until a year later. It had to be surgically removed because the doctors told him it could be cancerous and he was eventually clean of melanoma after the surgery. He now deeply regrets his part in the tanning trend, and he implores his audience to take responsibility for their own health.

* HePannedItNowHeSucks: James got a lot of flak for calling ''Film/Predator2'' and the 1989 ''Literature/PetSematary'' adaptation bad movies in the kill counts of said movies. This trope was [[InvertedTrope actually inverted]] when James gave a rare positive review to Film/{{Unfriended}} in its' kill count.

%% Please add examples specific to The Kill Count to its own page.

* HePannedItNowHeSucks: James got a lot of flak for calling ''Film/Predator2'' and the 1989 ''Literature/PetSematary'' adaptation bad movies in the kill counts of said movies. This trope was [[InvertedTrope actually inverted]] when James gave a rare positive review to ''Film/{{Unfriended}}' in its' kill count.

* HePannedItNowHeSucks: James got a lot of flak for calling ''Film/Predator2'' and the 1989 ''Literature/PetSematary'' adaptation bad movies in the kill counts of said movies. This trope was [[InvertedTrope actually inverted]] when James gave a rare positive review to ''Film/Unfriended'' in its' kill count.

* HePannedItNowHeSucks: James got a lot of flak for calling ''Film/Predator2'' and the 1989 ''Literature/PetSemetary'' adaptation bad movies in the kill counts of said movies. This trope was [[InvertedTrope actually inverted]] when James gave a rare positive review to ''Film/Unfriended'' in its' kill count.

** HePannedItNowHeSucks: James got a lot of flak for calling ''Film/Predator2'' and the 1989 ''Literature/PetSemetary'' adaptation bad movies in the kill counts of said movies. This trope was [[InvertedTrope actually inverted]] when James gave a rare positive review to ''Film/Unfriended'' in its' kill count.

* RunningGag: Making gratuitous references to the infamous [[Film/Psycho1998 1998 ''Psycho'' remake]] during the podcast, often as the answer to a question in a a game, which Chelsea delights in to James' exasperated confusion.

* FormerlyFit: In a Q&A, James explained how he used to be a huge gym enthusiast as he took up a training routine that made him a muscular build. However, he had to undo the routine because of how high maintenance it was. James has taken up an alternate routine and has set up a personal gym in his house with Chelsey.

* RunningGag: Making gratuitous references to the infamous [[Film/Psycho1998 1998 ''Psycho'' remake]] during the podcast.

Besides the Kill Count, the channel is also home to the ''Dead Meat Podcast'', a series hosted by Chelsea Rebecca, who is also James' wife. The podcast focuses on a wide variety of material including film reviews, interviews, analysis of horror tropes, horror-related games, and extensive essay work (for example, an entire episode was devoted to the history of South Sudan for the analysis of the film ''Film/HisHouse''). Chelsea also helps design a large amount of the merch from the channel.

[[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2IYWWifoIht9T47z1Z5lJw Dead Meat]] is a horror commentary channel on Website/YouTube founded by James A. Janisse of The Practical Folks in 2017. The channel's primary draw is ''WebVideo/TheKillCount'' series, where James tallies up the body count in horror movies while offering commentary and trivia on the films covered. At the end of each Kill Count, the numbers are tallied up and broken down before the film is awarded a "Golden Chainsaw" and "Dull Machete" for best and worst kill respectively. Besides the Kill Count, other videos are made covering James' various trips to horror conventions, comparing alternate versions of the same film to demonstrate the differences and determine which is the better watch, and other random stuff relating to horror films, including a podcast aptly titled The Dead Meat Podcast, where James and his wife, Chelsea, discuss topics related to horror films.

* FinalGirl: The '"Dead Meat'' podcast had an entire episode dedicated to the trope and the book that spawned it.

[[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2IYWWifoIht9T47z1Z5lJw Dead Meat]] is a horror commentary channel on Website/YouTube founded by James A. Janisse of The Practical Folks in 2017. The channel's primary draw is ''WebVideo/TheKillCount'' series, where James tallies up the body count in horror movies while offering commentary and trivia on the films covered. At the end of each Kill Count, the numbers are tallied up and broken down before the film is awarded a "Golden Chainsaw" and "Dull Machete" for best and worst kill respectively. Besides the Kill Count, other videos are made covering James' various trips to horror conventions, comparing alternate versions of the same film to demonstrate the differences and determine which is the better watch, and other random stuff relating to horror films, including a podcast aptly titled The Dead Meat Podcast, where James and his fiancee, Chelsea, discuss topics related to horror films.

* MenAreTheExpendableGender: James and Chelsea discuss this in the FinalGirl episode on the Dead Meat Podcast. James posits that a character's gender isn't necessarily a deciding factor in the death since [[AnyoneCanDie any character in a horror movie is in danger]], but he does note that, while men often die more in horror films, women tend to get slower and more graphic deaths. He cites ''Film/Saw3D'' as an example, where [[spoiler:Joyce is killed [[CruelAndUnsualDeath horrifically]] by being slowly burned alive in front of her husband Bobby, despite doing nothing to deserve it and being [[StuffedIntoTheFridge killed only to punish Bobby]] for lying about his experiences with Jigsaw]].

* {{Narm}}: [[InvokedTrope In his opinion]], the premonition deaths in ''Film/FinalDestination4'' come across as this. They are so badly done that he refers to the people involved as "cartoon characters"

* {{Corpsing}}: James has trouble keeping himself from laughing in his ''Film/{{Thankskilling}}'' Kill Count, due to the low quality and overall ridiculousness of the film.
** He audibly laughs trying to say the phrase "dildo slophouse" during the recount for ''Film/FridayThe13thPartVANewBeginning''.
* EveryEpisodeEnding: Two awards are given out at the end of every count: "Golden Chainsaw" for the coolest kill, and "Dull Machete" for the lamest kill. Finally, the host ends with "I'm James A. Janisse, and this has been the Kill Count." Also, right after a short spiel at the end of each video where James thanks his Patreon supporters, the last line of every video is "Be good people.".
** Two awards were added on for his look at the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series, "Platinum Punji Sticks" and "Rusty Mousetrap" for the best and worst trap in a movie, regardless of whether it killed someone or not. For the Kill Counts of ''Film/SawII'' through ''Film/Saw3D'', James also gives each movie a specialized subtitle to help distinguish them from each other.
** For the ''[[Franchise/JurassicPark Jurassic Park/World]]'' franchise, he adds the "Diamond Dino" award for the best dinosaur moment in the franchise, regardless of whether it killed someone or not.
** For the ''Franchise/FinalDestination'' series, he adds the "Primo Premonition" award for the best kill to happen in a premonition that doesn't actually occur.
** Since ''Film/{{Krampus}}'' wasn't actually a Kill Count but a "Capture Count", the awards were changed to the "Golden Santa Sack" and the "Sour Candy Cane" for the best and worst captures respectively.
** Beginning with his re-done ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968'' kill count he inaugurated the "Coolest Corpse" award, for the zombie he found the most interesting.

* FlawlessToken: Discussed in the kill count for ''12 Hour Shift'', James is a firm supporter of feminism and hates films that objectify women and treat them as sex objects. At the same time, he thinks films that portray women as flawless and messianic are equally problematic since they still [[HumansAreFlawed aren't portrayed as people]].
-->'''James:''' I especially love that she wrote a movie with a predominantly female cast, and did so in a way that's truly feminist - just let women be people.
-->'''Brea Grant''': We write these really great roles for women, but they're always, like, up on these pedestals. But I wanted to see a woman... have a lot of flaws. And all of the female characters have a lot of flaws.

* MST3KMantra: In the podcast episode about ''Film/SnakesOnAPlane'', the movie is praised for this: it knows exactly what the people are there for, and it won't spend time explaining itself or its plot holes (in fact, they point out the presence of Samuel Jackson's character makes no sense).

''[[caption-width-right:350:Welcome to the Kill Count, where we tally up the victims in all our favourite horror movies!]]''

->''"The movie begins with..."''

!!Now let's get to the tropes!:

* ActorAllusion: James is fond of making these as jokes to reference the filmography of other actors, such as suggesting Miguel A. Núñez Jr.'s character in ''Film/Leprechaun4InSpace'' possesses singing skills in reference to his death scene in ''Film/FridayThe13thPartVANewBeginning.''
* AnAesop:
** In the ending of the kill count for ''Film/TerrorTrain''; he shaves his beard and tells the audience how mean it is to cyberbully someone over something as trivial as their appearance. He states how the comments had left him a bit disheartened because they were [[SkewedPriorities more focused on his physical appearance than his content]].
** In the cover of the Final Destination movies, he implores his fanbase to take their health seriously as he had a cancer scare in his younger years due to excessive tanning.
** James has prevailing feminist and sex-positive messages in his videos; James always tells the audience to treat women as equals, to respect consent, and James repeatedly shows how rapists and perverts are truly creepy scumbags when they objectify the opposite sex.
* AprilFoolsDay: For his April Fool's Day 2019 video, James tricks viewers into thinking that he'll do a Kill Count on ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', only to switch gears mid-intro (complete with all the props in the background changing) and instead cover the ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' episode "And Then There Was Shawn".
* ArtisticLicenseStatistics: Discussed. James will give a kill-on-average ratio at the end of each count, though he often points out in some films that most of the kills came only at the end or were packed in at certain points, leading to the "there were X kills on average every Y minutes" conclusion sometimes being very unlike the real distribution. In ''Never Hike Alone'', James even acknowledges that there were only two kills in the movie, both of which came in the last five minutes. He also acknowledged this during his covering of ''Film/GetOut2017'', since all eight of the deaths happened in the last fifteen minutes. In the video for ''Film/FinalDestination'', he notes that it's the highest body count in the series due to the Flight 180 explosion and that it ''completely'' throws the simple math off.
** The plane crash [[spoiler:that Brandon Breyer deliberately caused]] near the end of ''Film/{{Brightburn}}'' brought him back bad memories of the ''Final Destination'' Kill Counts too due to how it artificially hyperinflated the kills in it.
** The ending of ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' appears to have a high number because [[spoiler:the Ancient Ones awaken and cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt]]. However, James doesn't count that, since it's ambiguous as to exactly what happened.
** Discussed in the into to the AprilFoolsDay episode of ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', where James outright refuses to do a kill count for that, owing to its DownerEnding where [[spoiler:TheBadGuyWins and Thanos wipes out half of the entire universe with the Infinity Gauntlet]]. James says doing a kill count for that movie would be outright impossible.

* BaitAndSwitch:
** Before he gets to the numbers for ''Film/AliensVsPredatorRequiem'', James hears a jet overhead, and it initially appears that he's about to suffer the same fate as [[spoiler: [[NukeEm the last 42 deaths from the movie]]]]. Turns out it was just a Blue Angels show, which James goes to watch.
** During "The Numbers" for ''Film/{{Us}}'', James, in full Tethered gear, speaks in a raspy voice before he breaks character early and talks normally.

* BerserkButton:
** While James usually has a rather neutral reaction to most of the bad movies that he watches, he seems to absolutely despise ''Film/Saw3D''. Best shown when he brings up the movie's most infamous scene, [[spoiler: Joyce burning to death]], during the ''Film/FinalDestination3'' kill count.
--> '''James''': [[PrecisionFStrike Fuck]] I hate that movie.
** He doesn’t really like finding piles of dead bodies in movies and having to count them as well, as evidenced by this line from his Kill Count for the Banana Splits Movie when Paige finds the rest of the adults dead in a heap.
--> '''James''': Aw, what the fuck? COME ON!
* BiasSteamroller:
** James revealed that ''Film/IllAlwaysKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer'' is his most hated horror movie of all time and justifiably so it's so horrible that it scored an infamous '''0%''' on Website/RottenTomatoes. And when he finally does a Kill Count for it, he makes that fact perfectly clear. He sounds bored in his intro and opening narration, and instead of going into detail about the movie's production, he just says "this movie fucking sucks" before getting right to the recap. And before [[CouchGag getting to the numbers]], instead of doing anything from the movie, James smacks the film's DVD off his shelf and [[FlippingTheBird flips it off]]. James reiterates during the video's outro (and in earlier ''Last Summer'' videos as well) that ''I'll Always Know'' is his least-favorite horror movie of all time. He'd later call ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation'' the worst film to be covered on the kill count, although is doesn't bother him as much.
** James would later call ''Film/{{Thankskilling}} 3'' the worst movie he's ever covered, and makes it clear throughout the Kill Count how much he despises the film. He ''tries'' to give his usual opening, but gives up halfway through to rant about how he's only covering it because people wouldn't stop flooding his comments with requests for it. He insults the movie's plot and production values throughout the count, and doesn't even bother saying "Let's get to the numbers" after recapping the film; he instead says "let's get this shit over with" and just walks offscreen.
* BigNo:
** James lets out a real one of these during the outro in ''Mandy'' because the prop axe that resembled the one from the movie fell off of his bookcase, breaking in half when it hit the floor. Luckily, James was sent a free replacement axe before the Kill Count happened.
** Also, when James finally realizes he’s going to have to cover ''Thankskilling 3''.
* BigWhat: James' shocked reaction to learning that the JerkAss Coach in ''Carrie 2'' is the son of none other then former US President UsefulNotes/GeraldFord.
* BloodyHilarious: The series is a black comedy analysis of horror movies and ranks both the best and worst kills in a movie. James also states his preference and admiration towards practical effects in movies, while also voicing his scorn for over-reliance on CGI.
* BrokeTheRatingScale:
** The lazy and uninspired kills in ''Film/SilentNightDeadlyNightIIIBetterWatchOut'' did this for James to the point of giving ''all'' of the kills the "Dull Machete" award. This happened again in ''Film/TexasChainsawMassacreTheNextGeneration''.
** ''Film/IllAlwaysKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer'' had the entire movie get the Dull Machete award, except for one kill that James especially liked. It even runs through the whole film (credits and all) in just a few seconds.
** Conversely, ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet5TheDreamChild'', ''Film/LeprechaunReturns'', ''Film/TheWitch'', ''Film/TheShining'', ''Film/BetterWatchOut'', ''[[Film/NeverHikeAlone Never Hike In The Snow]]'', ''Film/{{Society}}'', ''Film/{{Midsommar}}'', ''Film/Stitches2012'' and ''[[WebVideo/CryptTV Mordeo]]'' Season 1, which have no Dull Machete awarded to any of the kills[[note]]While the latter does have a Dull Machete, it's not for any of the kills from the web series.[[/note]]. While one of the kills gets the Golden Chainsaw in each instance[[note]]all of them in ''Society'''s case[[/note]], James doesn't find any of the kills weak enough to award a Dull Machete and says all of the kills are really good.
** Due to the large numbers of infected wandering around in the third and fourth ''Film/{{REC}}'' movies, James admitted in their Kill Counts that he gave up on counting near the ends of the movies, stating that there was simply no way to tell if held previously counted them or not and just assumed he did by that point.
** Similarly, ''Film/ZombielandDoubleTap'''s Kill Count was an ''absolute nightmare'' due to multiple mass killings in the dark. He asked the filmmakers, tried to use an [=AI=] program, just estimated, and then the editor just counted the best he could.
* {{Catchphrase}}: At the end of every episode, James signs off with one that isn't really related to his content but is nonetheless good advice.
--> '''James''': Be good people!
** Some more that pop up in the Kill Counts:
--> "TITLE CARD!"
--> "Slow-ass motherfuckin' Jeff!" (for the ''[[Franchise/{{Saw}} SAW]]'' franchise)
--> "Little Shit" (for the ''Film/{{Leprechaun}}'' franchise)
--> "Go on and GIT!"
--> "Bastard Skellys"/ "Grow some skin you fucks!" (referring to whenever random bones/skeletons/human remains are found)
--> "A good boy" (whenever a dog appears)
--> "Saboteur!" (in an intense French accent)
--> "SHPOOKAY!"
--> "Delicious drugs"
--> "It's an '''ALL OUT (insert fight context here) FIGHT!!'''" ''[airhorn noises]'' (whenever a big fight is about to begin)
--> "That's nice/not nice." (in a condescending tone)
--> "Dinosawh!" (It's how he pronounces "dinosaur"; this naturally came up in the ''Jurassic Park'' and ''Tammy and the T-Rex'' kill counts quite a bit)
--> "[action]! That! Puppet!"
--> "-and that movie ''su~cked''!" ([[InsultToRocks after comparing a movie's bad moment to a movie he doesn't like]])
--> "BUSINESS!"
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: The kill tally uses several colours to count victims; blue for males, red for females, grey for the undead or victims of unknown gender, and green for extraterrestrials.
* TheCommandments: James has a set of rules to abide by when it comes to counting kills. The rules have to be verified by James himself, so don't make assumptions or excuses for why he didn't add a specific character's death. The rules listed are reccuring rules or explanations about the kills themselves, [[RuleOfFun they are not to be taken seriously]] and James has stated that [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem he will bend the rules in accordance to the film of the episode]].
** Characters have to be introduced and physically seen so they can be counted on the list.
** Babies are a controversial and delicate case. Generally, they have to be born and seen in order to be counted. If a pregnant woman dies, then only the woman will be counted as a kill, not the unborn baby. Babies will be exempt from the rating system/awards because of [[EveryoneHasStandards the subject matter]] and [[BloodyHilarious theme of the show]].
** The kill has to be fresh. If it's not displaying evidence of a recent kill then it doesn't count since they were killed before the events of the film. The victims have to be visualised, identified, and accurately totalled, especially during wide-angle shots.
** They have to be human or have human-like qualities, so animals or animalistic aliens don't count. There are exceptions to this rule. James sometimes plays with this rule by including animals that were central to the story and because of how famous they are; in ''Film/{{Cujo}}'' and ''Film/{{Jaws}}'', he counted Cujo and the shark as kills, but he didn't any of the sharks from the ''Jaws'' sequels. He also jokingly counts the stuffed dinosaur Rex from ''Film/WesCravensNewNightmare'' since its owner said that it was a brave dino.
** Robots are not counted, as the trio of Killbots from ''Film/ChoppingMall'' weren't sentient and didn't display any human traits. Unlike androids and cyborgs, which are counted the list due to their sentience and overall display of humanity. James also doesn’t count any of the Banana Splits animatronics and [[Film/ChildsPlay2019 the Buddi dolls (including Reboot!Chucky)]] in their movies for the same reason.
** Undead and supernatural figures are a complicated example, but James said he'll include them on the list if he wants to inflate the numbers:
*** James will count zombies through infections, if a survivor becomes infected then they will be classed as dead if they don't amputate or cure themselves.
*** [[RevenantZombie Revenant zombies]] are counted ''twice'' (once for dying as a human, twice for dying as a revenant) because they display more sentience than common zombies (mindless creatures that are driven to kill and consume, display no sentience or intelligence).
*** For films like ''[[Film/{{Zombieland}} Zombieland]]'', James will count all zombies that are killed on screen since they make a majority of the body count.
*** Possessions count since the killing human form will generally kill the possessor if they don't evacuate the host. If the possessed human doesn't return to normal, then they too are counted as dead. Possessors also have to possess human forms, otherwise, they won't be included on the list. In ''Christine'', James refused to add Christine to the kill count because she was still a car, not a human and it's never stated if Christine was possessed or sentient.
*** Dolls and toys like [[Franchise/ChildsPlay Chucky]] are allowed, but only if they display significant amounts of sentience. This rule results in James not counting any of the Film/DemonicToys as kills (not even Baby Oopsy-Daisy, who displays the most sentience out of them).
*** Kills after revivals count as separate deaths. In other words, if a character dies on-screen, then comes back to life and dies on-screen again, each death will be counted as a kill. Several characters in ''The Babysitter: Killer Queen'' died and came back to life, and James counted each one of their deaths as separate kills.
** Premonitions and dreams do not count; the deaths have to be canonical (James still ranks these in their own category, but does not count them). In the ''Film/FinalDestination'' films, James puts the victims of the various accidents on the list but does not say how each died specifically (as they are often too numerous to describe in the first place). Since the main characters change their fates by avoiding the accidents, they cannot be counted with the other victims.
** Similarly, in movies involving a GroundhogDayLoop, James counts every kill he sees, even if the same person dies multiple times. The distinction is made during the actual video and at the Numbers if the same person dies more than once. This rule mostly only applies to ''Film/HappyDeathDay'' and its sequel, but he's said in podcasts that the precedent is set for if any other horror movies use a time loop.
** The kills must be presented during the film itself, and not in supplementary material such as deleted scenes, and if they do take place off-screen, a body must be shown or we must receive canon confirmation of their death. This is why James counts Alex Browning in ''Film/FinalDestination2'', but not Kimberly and Thomas in ''Film/FinalDestination3'', as the former's body was clearly shown in a photograph despite dying off-screen between the first and second movies, whereas the death of the latter two is only mentioned in a deleted scene. Deaths that occur off-screen and are simply confirmed by other characters tend to receive the "Dull Machete" award, especially if all of the other deaths are interesting.
** The death has to be shown before a film transition or before the ending credits, so James can have an accurate tallying of deaths. ''Final Destination 3'' created a dilemma for James, since the actual subway accident happened during a film transition before the credits, despite, the premonition showing how everyone is supposed to die beforehand. Since the survivors didn't return for the sequel and show how they defied the premonition, James is forced to put them on the tally.
** If a victim has already been counted in a previous film's video, they won't be re-counted if their death is referenced or shown again in the backstory of a prequel or sequel.
** If a death is confirmed before we see what happened, he will wait to count it until we see it (usually over the course of a movie series rather than an individual movie).
*** For instance, he waited to put Adam from ''Film/{{Saw}}'' on the count until the third movie even though the first movie left it obvious he would die and the second showed his corpse because the third movie actually showed his death.
*** Similarly, he pointed out in his Kill Count for ''Film/ItChapterTwo'' how he did not count [[BarbaricBully Henry Bowers]] in his Kill Count for ''Film/It2017'' 2 years ago as the former revealed that [[spoiler:he survived the fall in the well]].
*** Another example is [[spoiler:Michael Myers/the paramedic]] in ''Film/HalloweenH20TwentyYearsLater'' who gets counted as a half kill, since it isn't revealed until the beginning of the [[Film/HalloweenResurrection following film]] that [[spoiler:Michael Myers faked his death by switching spots with the paramedic and putting him in the mask.]]
** If a film has only one kill in it, it will not be covered on the channel, so you won’t see any ''Film/ParanormalActivity'' films on the channel. If the movie has way too many deaths to count then it won't be covered by the channel. He makes a special exception in the ''Krampus'' film he watches, cause [[spoiler: no one died in it. They instead got taken to an alternate dimension in the end. So instead, he makes it a Capture Count.]]
** If a canon sequel mentions how many people are killed in its previous film (regardless of whether it's an off-hand conversation or a news report), it can be used to tally up the kills in the latter. This is how James can identify the number of people killed during the prom massacre in ''Film/Carrie1976'' due to one of the characters in ''Film/TheRageCarrie2'' mentioning how many people died in the former.
** While this rule is not related to how kills are counted, James will only perform Kill Counts for horror and horror-related movies (even if he has to stretch the definition in [[Film/MortalKombatTheMovie some cases]]). Similarly, if the first movie in a series was primarily horror but the sequels drifted away from the genre (such as ''Film/JurassicPark'' and ''Film/ThePurge'', which had {{Actionized Sequel}}s), he'll still cover the sequels.
* ContentWarnings:
** In more recent videos, James has edited in a tone to alert viewers with seizure issues when scenes with flashing lights that may cause seizures begin and end. ''Film/{{REC}}'' and ''Film/{{Quarantine}}'' have so many flashing lights that he couldn’t keep putting the tone in the videos, so he simply advised photosensitive viewers to skip them altogether.
** James has had to make some Kill Counts with censored film footage due to the graphic nature making his videos instant targets for demonetization. However, he really doesn't like to do this, and will usually release an explicit version alongside the censored one if he gets a sponsor deal to pay for it.
** In the intro for the video of ''Film/PresidentsDay'', he noted that he was releasing a video about a SerialKiller in a high school not long after the Parkland shooting (the video was planned months in advance) and warned viewers to turn it off if they couldn't handle it so soon.
** As of ''Film/TheInvisibleMan2020'', self-harm warnings are included.

* CouchGag: Each Kill Count ends with James moving to the number tally in a unique transition, often related to the film covered, and often with himself falling victim to circumstances he joked about or criticized in the film.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
** The earlier videos were more subdued in the number transitions and James possessed a different hairstyle and speaking tone. They also tended to be under twenty minutes on average, with James speaking more quickly and rarely discussing behind-the-scenes information for the movies in question. Over time, Kill Counts became longer and include more discussion about the films' production. Videos released after ''Film/SawI'' added a fair use disclaimer as well. In the ''Film/DemonicToys'' Kill Count, James calls back to it and points out how awful his hair looked back then.
** James has admitted that his more subdued demeanor in the earliest Dead Meat videos compared to his excited and energetic presence in the later ones is due to his being able to get more sleep now that Dead Meat is his full-time job. When he was working a full-time job and making the videos as a hobby, he'd typically be much more burned out when he was filming them.
** James lampshades this in the first two ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' Kill Counts, remarking on Jason not being the killer in the first film and his drastically different attire and appearance in the second.
* EarWorm: James notes how catchy the Banana Splits’ theme song is.
* EqualOpportunityEvil: Part of the objective with the number breakdowns, which break down the kill numbers by gender, is to see if the deaths in a film follow this pattern.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: James has a rather fawning attitude towards two random patrons that resemble Music/DavidBowie in the S&M bar in the ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreetPart2FreddysRevenge'' Kill Count.
--> '''James''': Sign me up!
** He does it again in the ''Film/SeedOfChucky'' Kill Count when he mentions that Glen is “only one dilated pupil away” from looking just like David Bowie. He even goes as far as to call David “the sexiest man who has ever or will ever walk this earth”.

* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]]; after watching several Saw movies, James debated on whether or not Kramer still had good enough reasons for putting so many people through his death traps. James instead wondered if Kramer just had a fetish for torturing people and used parts of his backstory to justify his killings and to pass on the blame to someone else.
* FunTShirt: James will, more often than not, wear a graphic T-shirt or costume referencing in some way the film he's covering in his Kill Counts.

* GagCensor: James loves to use them to cover up naked bodies and even made them match the theme of the movie, like the Necronomicon for the ''Franchise/EvilDead'' franchise or chainsaws for the ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre'' franchise. However, he had noted in a tweet that he will use regular blur censors if the gag censors take up too much screen space to be usable.
* GentlemanSnarker: He's very respectful towards women and very snarky towards mean-spirited characters. In ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacreTheBeginning'', after showing a clip of Marietta Marich complimenting Matthew Bomer's looks, James also comments how beautiful Marietta Marich looked when she was younger.
* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: A variant in that after previously releasing a video covering ''Film/FreddyVsJason'' as part of the ''Friday the 13th'' Kill Counts, a version including tweaks was released to be in the ''A Nightmare On Elm Street'' Kill Count videos.
* GoryDiscretionShot: James discusses the effectiveness and varying usage of this trope, demonstrating very much how Administrivia/TropesAreTools in how he varies between praising and admonishing films that use it depending on its execution. He notes that good executions can be rather terrifying while poor examples can come across as underwhelming or cheap depending on how they are depicted. He's even awarded Golden Chainsaws and Dull Machetes to kills of this nature as a reflection of its variable nature. Deliberate examples may be praised, for example, but cases where the discretion was due to the original graphic kill footage being heavily censored always make him disappointed.
* GratuitousRape: Similar to unnecessary nudity and sex scenes, James doesn't like instances of this trope, and speaks out much more harshly against it.
* GroundhogDayLoop: The "let's get to the numbers" and outro segments in his ''Film/HappyDeathDay'' Kill Count.
* HeroicBSOD: James has a pretty big one (complete with multiple instances of a BigNo) at the end of the Kill Count for ''Film/Mandy2018'', when his replica of The Beast falls to the floor and snaps in half.[[note]]Thankfully, Legion M, who produced the film, were kind enough to ship him a replacement.[[/note]]
* HomoeroticSubtext: Discussed in the ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreetPart2FreddysRevenge'' Kill Count, where this was a prominent part of the film.
* HollywoodHomely: In-universe. James discusses this trope in the ''Film/Leprechaun3'' Kill Count in regard to Loretta being portrayed as frumpy and past her prime. He notes that Caroline Williams doesn't look any less attractive than she was presented as in ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre2'' ten years earlier.
* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: Invoked. James covers holiday-themed horror movies around the time of the holiday in the real world, releasing the Kill Counts in a timely fashion.
* HostileShowTakeover: At the end of the [[WebVideo/CryptTV ''Mordeo'' Season 1]] Kill Count, James is temporarily taken out by one of the titular creatures after mistakenly eating human flesh he thought was beef jerky. As a result, the Mordeo delivers the numbers and awards in unintelligible screaming before James (sporting a nasty neck wound) shoos it away to do the outro.
* HypocriticalHumor: James expresses annoyance at the fact that ''Film/ChildsPlay'' ended in a freeze-frame, only for the shot before he gets to the numbers to end in one itself. In fact, many of his segues to the numbers feature him being harmed by something he mocked or criticized in the film he just discussed.
* IdenticalStranger: In-universe.
** James has trouble telling Sally and Louise apart in his Kill Count for ''Film/UncleSam''.
** James is unable to tell the difference between Laura and Jerri in ''Film/SilentNightDeadlyNightIIIBetterWatchOut''.
* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: Gives the Golden Chainsaw award to Leatherface's golden chainsaw in ''Film/LeatherfaceTheTexasChainsawMassacreIII'' since it's a literal golden chainsaw, despite not being used to successfully kill someone in the film. The kills in the movie were too cut down after production for anyone of them to be given the award, anyway.
* InstantTurnoff: James doesn't understand why people find infantile voices sexy, which he says during the Kill Counts for ''Leprechaun 3'' and ''Leprechaun Returns''.
* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: [[invoked]]James tends to be pretty critical towards remakes, reboots and etc. especially if they are way too similar to their source materials. Although at times he does also tend to criticize MythologyGags. As he himself states he really appreciates originality.
** James holds this opinion about ''Film/{{Quarantine}}'', saying that the film is too much of a shot-for-shot remake that doesn't feel as real as ''Film/{{REC}}'' did. Notably, he said that the few moments that the film added that REC didn't have, particularly the kill with the camera and the man tearing down the tarp only to get shot by the police outside, were great additions and that he wishes there were more of them.
* MadeMyselfSad: In ''Film/TheThing1982'', after [=MacReady=] shot Clark in self-defense, James was about to make a joke about who's going to watch the dogs, only to remember that the dogs are all dead and now he's sad.
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent:
** Over the course of the ''Franchise/ChildsPlay'' Kill Counts, a Chucky doll prominently displayed in the background gradually emerges from its box, finally attacking James before he gets to the numbers for ''Film/CultOfChucky''.
--> '''James''': Oh god! [[Film/FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter He's killing me! He's killing me!!]]
** Also, in the ''Film/FinalDestination'' videos, the decorations on James’ shelf keep getting knocked down when the death related to them happens in the movie.
** During, appropriately, the ''Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'' Kill Count, James slowly shaves more and more as the video goes on, starting the video with a full beard and ending it clean-shaven.
** At the start of ''Literature/{{Christine}}'' Kill Count, the car in the background is broke with its parts open. But by the end of the video, the car's parts are all closed.
** For ''Film/BasketCase'', the basket is the only thing visible on the case. Once we get to the part where Belial is revealed to the audience, the case is turned over, revealing Belial inside.
* MedalOfDishonor:
** The ''Film/SilentNightDeadlyNightIIIBetterWatchOut'' and ''Film/TexasChainsawMassacreTheNextGeneration'' Kill Counts notably have no Golden Chainsaw awarded and every kill awarded a Dull Machete due to James finding the kills in both movies so lacklustre, making the Dull Machete a rare instance of this. James also gave the entirety of ''Film/IllAlwaysKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer'' the Dull Machete because he just hates the movie that much.
* MenAreTheExpendableGender: A lot of the kill count numbers have male victims outnumber the female victims. James and Chelsea discuss this in the FinalGirl episode on the Dead Meat Podcast. James posits that a character's gender isn't necessarily a deciding factor in the death since [[AnyoneCanDie any character in a horror movie is in danger]], but he does note that, while men often die more in horror films, women tend to get slower and more graphic deaths. He cites ''Film/Saw3D'' as an example, where [[spoiler:Joyce is killed [[CruelAndUnsualDeath horrifically]] by being slowly burned alive in front of her husband Bobby, despite doing nothing to deserve it and being [[StuffedIntoTheFridge killed only to punish Bobby]] for lying about his experiences with Jigsaw]].
* MoodWhiplash: A major complaint James has towards ''Film/TheBelkoExperiment'' is that the BlackComedy of James Gunn's script heavily contrasts with the serious direction from Greg [=McLean=].

* MyFriendsAndZoidberg:
** By ''Leprechaun: Back to tha' Hood'', James is getting a little tired of the franchise, and his intro expresses this. (In his ''Leprechaun Returns'' episode, James does admit that he's since come around to "the little shit".)
---> '''James:''' Welcome to the Kill Count, where we tally up the victims in ''all'' our favourite horror movies...and also the ''Leprechaun'' ones.
** Comes up again as he gets further into the ''Film/WrongTurn'' series and is increasingly tired of the series slide into cheap sleaze.
---> '''James:''' Welcome to the Kill Count, where we tally up the victims in ''all'' our favorite horror movies...and the Film/WrongTurn series. (For ''Film/WrongTurn5Bloodlines'')
---> '''James:''' Welcome to the Kill Count, where we tally up the victims in all the ''Film/WrongTurn'' movies. (For ''Film/WrongTurn6LastResort'')

* NiceGuy: BlackComedy and Anger towards the 3rd last Summer film aside James is genuinely kindhearted on and off camera and wants his audience to be the same.

* TheOneThingIDontHateAboutYou: No matter how much James hates a particular movie, he likes to draw attention to movie team and he'll praise directors who cared about their product and took responsibility for the people under their command. Although James hates ''Jason Takes Manhattan'', he praised Rob Hedden's appreciation for the franchise since he kept the set free of drugs, kept a healthy atmosphere, listened to Kane Hodder's suggestions for Jason, and he put the cast and crews safety first by refusing to break overtime laws. Rob Hedden also went nude after Sharlene Martin expressed her anxiety about being naked for a film, an act that Sharlene appreciated.
* PungeonMaster: James never hesitates to make puns if he's able, and even lampshades this in the ''Film/PresidentsDay'' Kill Count:
--> '''James''': Hope y'all like presidential puns and political jokes, because I've been training my whole goddamn life for this video!
* ObligatoryJoke: At the end of the ''Film/SilentNight'' kill count, after James ends up being [[KillItWithFire burned alive]] by the killer Santa and [[StrippedToTheBone left as a skeleton]], [[Franchise/MortalKombat Dan Forden]] pops up on the right side and yells "TOASTY!"
* OhCrap:
** James' reaction whenever a character uses a smoke grenade or something to block the view of a group killing, creating much more guesswork for him as to how many people got killed. He [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this during the ''Film/TheFirstPurge'' Kill Count.
--> '''James''': Oh no, a smoke grenade! [[LampshadeHanging How am I supposed to count these kills when I can't even see 'em?]]
** During the trailer for the ''Film/HellraiserIIIHellOnEarth'' Kill Count, James is so clearly dreading having to cover the nightclub massacre scene that when it gets mentioned, he breaks character (having been narrating the trailer in an imitation of Pinhead's voice) in order to freak out about it.
* OminousVisualGlitch: Happens towards the end of the Kill Count for ''Film/UnfriendedDarkWeb'': first, during the transition to the numbers, and then during said numbers, when James mentions the hacker of unknown gender and his voice and the figure representing them glitch out for an instant.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: James absolutely ''hates'' any tasteless depiction of sexual assault.
** In ''Film/LeatherfaceTheTexasChainsawMassacreIII'' James is appalled and disturbed by the implication of Leatherface being the [[ChildByRape father of the creepy child]][[note]]"You don't need that additional depravity, man. The Sawyers already eat people, that's bad enough."[[/note]].
** In the kill count for ''Film/HappyDeathDay'', he voices his respect towards Carter for not taking advantage of Tree while she was drunk the other night. James tells his audience that Carter is a "righteous horror character to emulate".
** Similarly, James states outright that he's very uncomfortable with the lengthy rape scene in ''Film/TheDevilsRejects'' and states that he judges anyone who thinks the character who commits it is cool in any way. This is also part of what cements his negative opinion of the Firefly family.
* RealMenWearPink: In the kill count of "[[Film/ShaunOfTheDead Shaun of the Dead]]", James states that he recognizes Matt Lucas from ''Film/{{Bridesmaids}}'' and ''Series/TheGreatBritishBakeOff''. In general, James isn't afraid to show his feminine side and have fun making the kill counts.
* RefugeInAudacity: The reason he awards the Golden Chainsaw to the Leprechaun bursting out of a man's penis for ''Film/Leprechaun4InSpace'', as it was part of the director's pitch that got the film greenlit.
* RetroactiveRecognition: In-universe, James has a habit of doing this when actors who are better known for later work show up, and will inevitably joke about it.

* RootingForTheEmpire: InUniverse, James admits that he's rooting for [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Sheriff Wydell]] in ''Film/TheDevilsRejects'', as the attempt to parallel him with the Firefly family falls flat since all the evil he commits is against them, and James openly admits he wants them dead ''just that badly'', since they're vile rapists, murderers, and torturers despite being [[VillainProtagonist the protagonists]]. While he's not outright rooting for the Black Satans in [[Film/ThreeFromHell the next film]], he is still disappointed at the fact the Firefly family beats them handily and walks away without facing ''any'' comeuppance for their crimes.
* RuleOfFunny: James has cited this on occasion as to why certain kills are not counted or looked over because no commentary or jokes could be offered. Related to...
* RuleOfFun: James has made it clear the Kill Counts are supposed to be fun first and foremost, which is why he occasionally points this out to discourage people from taking it too seriously.

* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: James often bends the rules for Kill Counts in one way or another, and often [[LampshadedTrope lampshading]] his tendency to do so.
--> '''James:''' Oh, I guess [[Film/SleepawayCampIIUnhappyCampers Angela's]] playing by [[Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway Whose Line]] slash {{Calvinball}} slash Kill Count rules, they're not that important!
* SelfDeprecation:
** During his Kill Count for [[WebVideo/CryptTV ''The Look-See'' Season 2]], James refers to Raymond (the character that James himself played) as "a Gordon Hayward-looking jackass", asks if he watches too many horror movies or something, and says how James Capshaw could have taken him easily in the Dull Machete for the lamest kill.
** James himself is awarded the Dull Machete at the end of the ''Mordeo'' Kill Count, by getting his throat ripped out by a Mordeo after accidentally eating human flesh.
** He compares himself to Film/FreddyVsJason character Linderman. Said character berates Kia for wearing too much makeup and apparently that's what James would say in his youth.
--> '''Linderman:''' You tear me down to make yourself feel better because you really hate yourself, which is kinda pathetic when you think about it. Assuming of course you CAN think with all that makeup weighing down your head.
--> '''James:''' Ok, that does sound like something I would have said in high school verbatim. Damn... don't be a Linderman. Or a high school me...
* ShipperOnDeck: James often theorises that certain characters are gay due to the way they interact with each other. In ''Jason Lives'', he speculates that Stan and Larry are a gay couple and in ''A New Beginning'' he makes a similar comment about the two greasers fixing their car.
* ShownTheirWork: During Kill Counts, especially in the later episodes, James often goes into the details of a film's production, giving trivia and shouting out members of the production who may be obscure or less discussed because they worked on areas with less publicity. He'll also bring attention to negative or problematic aspects of production and call them out, which also requires background research.
* SigningOffCatchphrase: James typically ends videos by saying "Be good people."
* SoBadItsGood:
** In-universe, this is James' rationale for giving both the Golden Chainsaw ''and'' the Dull Machete to Rick's EyeScream in ''Film/FridayThe13thPartIII'', due to the obvious mannequin head.
** James loves the first ''Film/{{Thankskilling}}'' movie because of this. He notes that the movie was trying to aim for this and succeeded, since it had NoBudget and the actors knew what kind of movie it was. As such, there were several moments that made him legitimately laugh, and for all the movie's faults, he had a really good time with it.
* SoundtrackDissonance: He criticizes ''Film/TheBelkoExperiment'' for this when a massacre is accompanied by jovial music, as the scene is lacking the BlackComedy he felt was required to pull it off.
* SparedByTheCut: One of James's rules for the kill count is that he won't count characters who disappear from the movie without any explanation. Deleted scenes that show how a character dies must be implemented into the film in order to be counted, as they may have been spared or they may have been able to escape. [[invoked]]
* SpecialEffectsFailure: In-universe, James points out instances of this trope that are particularly appalling/humorous. In particular, he takes ''Film/Leprechaun4InSpace'' to task for its CGI.
* SpoiledByTheFormat: [[invoked]] Kills are instantly accompanied by text and a tally, plus a brief description of how the character died, flashing onscreen, officially adding a character to the count. If a character looks to have been killed but no text pops up on-screen, they're actually alive. James will lampshade this later when the character turns up again, noting that the audience probably realized they weren't added to the count. Averted in ''The Look-See (Season 1)'' Kill Count, though, to keep the suspense, where a kill is retracted after it was added when the victim turns out to be alive. In other cases, James will outright clarify the status by mentioning right there and then that the character didn't really die, or mentioning this as the reason for why a group of victims is missing one of the members on the count.
* StrawFeminist: James holds misandristic women to the same standard of misogynistic men and voices his dislike for the leads in 2001's "Valentine". James also discussed the trope in the Dead Meat Podcast episode "Final Girl" in response to the accusations of him being a straw feminist as well, he states that he's not biased towards men. In horror movies, characters are just characters and how they die is what affects representation; male characters are more likely to die but get quick strikes, whereas, women get deaths that are more drawn out and excruciating. Female characters also get derogatory slurs thrown at them because of their sex, while men don't usually receive slurs at all.
* TakeThat:
** The ''Nightmare on Elm Street'' version of the ''Film/FreddyVsJason'' Kill Count has James talking about Blake's father, an Alex Jones lookalike, and he absolutely refuses to mince words about Jones, sarcastically lamenting what Blake would do "with all that Info Wars money" and stating that Blake's father would "spread conspiracies about all those kids getting killed", capping the whole thing off with:
--> '''James''': Because that's what Alex Jones does, he's a bad man.
** The ''Film/{{Predators}}'' Kill Count has him mention that the titular aliens are not to be confused with sexual predators such as Harvey Weinstein.
** In his kill count for ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre2003'', James lightly insults Creator/MichaelBay by referencing Bay's style of using unnecessary fanservice. As the protagonist, Erin gets wet twice during the movie while wearing a white top, James comments that Creator/JessicaBiel must be freezing while doing the scene. James also states that Bay must have given her the role after she washed his car [[labelnote:?]] Referencing the story about Michael Bay forcing Creator/MeganFox to clean his car as he recorded her so she could get a role in the {{Film/Transformers}} movie[[/labelnote]].
* TankTopTomboy: Lampshaded in the kill count for ''Film/TheBananaSplits'', where he says that the heroine Beth "turns into Hot Action Star Mom" after she takes off her sweater to reveal she's wearing a tank top underneath.
* TeaserOnlyCharacter: The long version of the Dead Meat intro has footage from ''Film/AmericanPsycho'' and ''Film/TheLostBoys''. To date, these films are the only ones James has yet to review.
* TheyKilledKennyAgain: James himself has been killed several times during the transition to the numbers
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: James' reaction whenever a film has a wide or sweeping shot full of dead bodies and/or random RedShirts getting killed, mostly because it means he'll have to go frame by frame counting everyone. ''Film/ThePurge'' series is by far the worst offender, and James will more or less always groan or complain whenever one of the films does so.
** Special mention should also go to [[spoiler:''Film/{{Us}}'', when it turns out that the Tethered's extermination plan goes nationwide]], which provoked lots of irritation for James whenever an aboveground shot shows dozens of corpses at a time.
--> '''James:''' Oh shit! Are those a bunch of background bodies? Start the fucking Purge counting engines, I guess.
** This is also precisely why he said in his podcast episode covering ''Film/GhostShip'' that he will never do a Kill Count for it, as the way the massacre scene in that film is shot would make it practically impossible for him to get a proper victim count.
** Similarly, he set a precedent when he covered ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' of not putting Engineers on the count because the next movie would've been literally impossible to correctly count in ''Film/AlienCovenant'' if he did. As it turns out that the Engineers meet all his rules later on in the movie, he repeatedly points out that he is literally only doing it to give himself an easier time.
** He has an especially bad time with ''Film/ZombielandDoubleTap'', which contains '''[[RuleOfThree three]]''' scenes of mass zombie killings in the dark in rapid succession of each other during the climax.
** In a non-counting related example, at the beginning of the ''Film/IllAlwaysKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer'' Kill Count, instead of doing the usual intro of explaining the background of the movie and giving his personal opinion on it, James instead starts and ends the intro on one sentence.
--> '''James''': [[TranquilFury This movie fucking sucks.]]
* TranquilFury: In his Kill Count for ''Film/IllAlwaysKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer'', James is noticeably burnt out from this movie since he utterly despises it and is 110% done with the movie's plot and acting. He doesn't even bother introducing the movie and just wants to get the episode over and done with.
* UncertainDoom: Discussed and zig-zagged. Since a number of characters may or may not survive their fates in horror movies, James usually doesn't count it as a kill if someone is left in a situation where death is likely but not certain (such as falling off a cliff). The few times he does count it is when a character has been gravely wounded before being left to such a fate, since James assumes that the character won't be able to get help before succumbing to their injuries.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: InUniverse, James' central issue with ''Film/TheDevilsRejects'' and especially ''Film/ThreeFromHell'' is that the Firefly family simply isn't sympathetic. They're brutal murderers, rapists, and torturers beyond even standard horror villains, and he notes that no matter how Rob Zombie meant to portray them, he is absolutely ''never'' going to want to see anything but their just comeuppance. Part of why ''Film/ThreeFromHell'' is so much worse to him is that, after getting said comeuppance in the previous entry, the Firefly family improbably survive and are treated as cool "protagonists" from there on out despite being absolute ''monsters''.
* ValuesDissonance: In-universe, James points out egregious cases of these in films, such as taking issue with the portrayal of a transgender character in ''Film/LeprechaunInTheHood''.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: James ends up speaking like this before he gets to the numbers in the kill counts of ''Film/TheEvilDead1981'' as he imitates a Deadite and in ''Film/DemonicToys'' as he speaks as though he's a demon.
* WaxingLyrical: James does this occasionally.
* WhatMeasureIsAHumanoid: Alien deaths in the series are counted by how humanoid they resemble. He won't count xenomorphs since they are more insectoid and animalistic, whereas, the Yautja (Predators) are counted on the list because they display more human-like qualities in behavior and physiology. He probably would have counted the [[Film/{{Prometheus}} Engineers]]. But... [[Film/AlienCovenant they go extinct.]] So he didn't wanna cover the death of a race that actually dies on-screen.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: As noted under EveryoneHasStandards, James leaves animals off the kill count. He also flip flops on having robots and other non-humans being included, usually putting them on if they are sentient (Such as [[Franchise/{{Predator}} Yautja]] and [[Film/ChildsPlay Chucky in doll form]]) and leaving them off if they are sufficiently non-sentient/human (Such as [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Xenomorphs]] and most zombies).
* WrongAssumption: In the Banana Splits Kill Count, he’s originally a fan of Stevie, until he finds out Stevie is considered TheScrappy in-universe and is a HateSink out of it.
* YourHeadASplode:
** James suffers this courtesy of an off-screen Predator in the ''Film/Predator2'' outro and after showing off a shot of a man being shot in the head in ''Film/{{Thankskilling}}''.
** Head explosions are often ranked amongst the Golden Chainsaw kills; examples include [[spoiler:Rick]] in ''Film/FridayThe13thPartIII'', [[spoiler:John Strode]] in ''Film/HalloweenTheCurseOfMichaelMyers'', [[spoiler:Leslie Todd]] in ''Film/ChoppingMall'', and [[spoiler:Dr. Sartain]] in ''Film/Halloween2018''.

->''"And that's it! TV Tropes was founded in 2004, and has since gone on to [[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife ruin the lives]] of many denizens of the Internet. I'll be back next week to see how many tropes [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} that other wiki]] has. But until then, I'm James A. Janisse... ''(nods)'' this has been The Kill Count."''\\
\\
''"Alright y'all, be good people."''
----

** While this rule is not related to how kills are counted, James will only perform Kill Counts for horror and horror-related movies (even if he has to stretch the definition in [[Film/MortalKombatTheMovie some cases]]).

->''"And that's it! TV Tropes was founded in 2004, and has since gone on to [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife ruin the lives]] of many denizens of the Internet. I'll be back next week to see how many tropes [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} that other wiki]] has. But until then, I'm James A. Janisse... ''(nods)'' this has been The Kill Count."''\\

** The ''Nightmare on Elm Street'' version of the ''Film/FreddyVsJason'' Kill Count has him refer to Blake's father as an Alex Jones lookalike and sarcastically lament his death by saying he should've cashed in his [=InfoWars=] money. In fact, in one of his other kill counts, he outright states that Alex Jones is not a good man.

** Conversely, ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet5TheDreamChild'', ''Film/LeprechaunReturns'', ''Film/TheWitch'', ''Film/TheShining'', ''Film/BetterWatchOut'', ''[[Film/NeverHikeAlone Never Hike In The Snow]]'', ''Film/{{Society}}'', ''Film/{{Midsommar}}'', ''Film/{{Stitches2012}}'' and [[WebVideo/CryptTV ''Mordeo'' Season 1]], which have no Dull Machete awarded to any of the kills[[note]]While the latter does have a Dull Machete, it's not for any of the kills from the web series.[[/note]]. While one of the kills gets the Golden Chainsaw in each instance[[note]]all of them in ''Society'''s case[[/note]], James doesn't find any of the kills weak enough to award a Dull Machete and says all of the kills are really good.

** Conversely, ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet5TheDreamChild'', ''Film/LeprechaunReturns'', ''Film/TheWitch'', ''Film/TheShining'', ''Film/BetterWatchOut'', ''[[Film/NeverHikeAlone Never Hike In The Snow]]'', ''Film/{{Society}}'', ''Film/{{Midsommar}}'', and [[WebVideo/CryptTV ''Mordeo'' Season 1]], which have no Dull Machete awarded to any of the kills[[note]]While the latter does have a Dull Machete, it's not for any of the kills from the web series.[[/note]]. While one of the kills gets the Golden Chainsaw in each instance[[note]]all of them in ''Society'''s case[[/note]], James doesn't find any of the kills weak enough to award a Dull Machete and says all of the kills are really good.

** Similarly, ''Film/ZombielandDoubleTap'''s Kill Count was an ''absolute nightmare'' due to multiple mass killings in the dark. He asked the filmakers, tried to use an [=AI=] program, just estimated, and then the editor just counted the best he could.

** During his Kill Count for [[WebVideo/CryptTV ''The Look-See'' Season 2]], James refers to Raymond (the character that James himself played) as "a Gordon Hayward-looking motherfucker", asks if he watches too many horror movies or something, and says how James Capshaw could have taken him easily in the Dull Machete for the lamest kill.