# The Kill Count (2017)

> A host-led horror history series that tallies the lives taken across decades of horror films.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/1104922

## Facts

- Seasons: 10
- Episodes: 538
- Episode runtime: 15 min
- Status: Returning Series
- Genres: documentary, horror
- Created by: James A. Janisse
- Cast: James A. Janisse, Chelsea Rebecca, Spencer Charnas, Roger L. Jackson
- TMDB rating: 9.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7415686/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: mild
- Tone: morbid, playful, wry, affectionate, macabre

## Synopsis

The Kill Count (2017-present) is an American web documentary horror series created by James A. Janisse and produced for YouTube. Hosted by Janisse, who also plays himself as James, the series ventures through centuries of horror films to catalogue the lives taken on screen. Its engine is simple and relentless: each episode picks up the body count of a film or franchise, examining who dies, how, and what that reveals about the genre's evolving appetite for violence. Across ten seasons of episodic essays, the run has grown from a modest first season of forty-two episodes to longer stretches, with the host's cheerful, fannish voice contrasting the grim subject matter. Guest appearances from Chelsea Rebecca and Spencer Charnas add texture to the commentary, and Roger L. Jackson's voice work for Ghostface nods to the slasher lineage. The tone is wry, morbid and deeply affectionate toward the genre, blending film criticism with a playful obsession with mortality. Fans of Lindsay Ellis, Red Letter Media and Cinema Sins will find resonance in its video essay sensibility, though its scope is tightly focused on horror cinema and its archives of kills. The show suits viewers who enjoy horror history, slasher trivia and quick, self-contained episodes they can dip into at will.

## Shows like The Kill Count

- [Light as a Feather (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/69969)
- [Shadow Hunter (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/11486)
- [True Haunting (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/1105179)
- [Darker Passages (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/156174)
- [Paranormal Witness (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/37518)
- [1000 Ways to Die (2009)](https://ember.film/tv/14748)
- [Cursed Films (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/84889)
- [The Backrooms (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/1105032)
- [Haunted (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/71044)
- [The Killing Season (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/60127)

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