This particular death count is complicated for a variety of reasons. It is likely that those reasons will affect the accuracy of the count both for the sheer difficulty of it as well as due to a certain ambiguity of definition that could lead some to count the kills differently.
First things first: Since this is a zombie movie, it is important to understand the nature of what is defined as a zombie so we can determine whether or not the transformation process itself counts as a kill and whether the destruction of the zombie itself counts as a kill. Snyder does not make this easy for us. At no point is there any real historical or descriptive information given about the origin of the zombie plague, so we don’t really know much and must infer from what we see. For the purposes of this count we are going to count the transformation as a kill since there are several instances where humans are presented to have ‘died’ and then gotten up a zombie (i.e.: arterial sprays that would kill any normal person, etc.) We will also be counting the zombie kills as they seem to have cognitive function for the most part and some have purpose other than just killing. Also it is implied that reproduction might be possible.
There will be some more notes as we progress, but let’s start with the time stamping!
3:45 Car impact with the army transport kills the driver and passenger of the car and driver and passenger of the transport
5:35 The escaped Alpha bites and kills an army guy
5:39 He gets 4 more
7:13 He rips the jaw off of the next to last remaining army guy
7:24 He bites the last army guy (creating the arterial spray mentioned above)
7:24 This is where things get complicated. Here is where the fall of Las Vegas is depicted in multiple flashes lasting through approximately 13:50. On screen we can clearly see 17 human deaths and 52 individual zombie kills. There is also a napalm run that takes out approximately 3 blocks of zombies. Measuring the average number of zombies across as 40, that means that the strafing run took out approximately 4800 zombies, all of which must have been human as well previously. This isn’t even addressing the dead on the ground we see and cannot determine whether they were just human or a zombie before they fell. By the 13:50 mark we can safely assume that all humans have either fled from the zombie zone or been turned or killed within. So, it appears that the easiest way to get a clear kill count is to consult the census records. The 2020 census records show that Las Vegas had a population of approximately 2,699,000. We have to assume that many people escaped but we must also assume that there was a great number of tourists within that the census would not consider. I expect these two numbers would probably even out. We also want to compare the area we are given in the movie as walled off with the actual geography of the city and what is contained for the purposes of the census. This is where our next problem occurs. The graphic we are given in the movie at approximately the 14:50 mark states that the 3712 containers create a border that is 42,240 yards long containing 72 square miles. Since we are shown that the wall is uniform and is 3 containers high, that would make each container 34.14 yards long…. Seems off to me considering most shipping containers are 40-45 feet long. Also, the actual census map shows that the entire area of Las Vegas is approximately 48 square miles give or take. However, the walled off area is actually smaller than the census map for Las Vegas. So, what to do? I think we will go with what it seems the intent was, which is that Las Vegas fell completely and we will thus use the census number as the casualty number for this section.
22:50 Flashback of Scott killing his zombified wife
29:20 Flashback of Mikey killing 7 zombies
1:05:44 Chambers stabs 3 zombies
1:06:49 Here is the fight that results from the dropped pan that ends at about 1:09:57 resulting in 46 zombie kills and Chambers’ death
1:10:16 Gas cannister is shot taking out at least 10 zombies
1:11:40 Zombie headshot
1:11:51 Another killed
1:11:56 And another
1:12:17 And another
1:12:50 And another
1:20:10 Eight zombies killed at the bottom of the elevator
1:25:44 Smart zombie killed
1:26:54 The Queen zombie is beheaded, but not killed exactly…
1:28:27 Another zombie kill
1:30:01 Zombie crushed by a wall
1:46:03 Maria has neck broken and Scott kills 6 zombies
1:47:42 Dieter and Vanderohe take out 7 zombies
1:48:43 Mikey kills one
1:51:01 Dieter is dragged away and we can safely assume he dies
1:51:23 Mikey shoots one and then throws a grenade that gets at least 1
1:53:14 Zombie tiger bites off Martin’s head
1:53:56 Four more zombies shot
1:54:10 Scott shoots 4 more before running out of ammo
1:54:27 Mikey gets 1 and then Scott, now reloaded, takes out 13 more through the 1:54:50 timeframe
1:54:56 Scott gets another
1:55:05 And another
1:55:15 Coyote gets 2 and Mikey gets 1
1:55:38 Mikey gets 2 as he is bitten and Scott gets 1
1:55:49 Scott shoots 12 more
1:56:22 Mikey sacrifices himself by pulling all his grenades and takes out at least 20 in the process
1:56:59 We see one more die in the fire
2:00:00 It is implied that the Coyote is bitten and killed after she drops the Queen’s head to the ground
2:02:30 Zombified Burt bites one of the hostages
2:02:51 Kate shoots zombie Burt
2:03:16 Kate gets 7 more through 2:03:35
2:08:20 Scott kills the alpha
2:08:59 The nuke hits Las Vegas destroying whatever zombies remain (impossible to even estimate)
2:10:10 Pilot is dead on a skewer
2:14:18 Scott dies and then Kate shoots zombie Scott
Total: 2,704,046 (and I think this is conservative)
This kill count only looks for on screen kills, and misses a few here and there including large swaths from the fall of Las Vegas. Their total 275.
This kill count actually tries to get the fall in there but severely undercounts the zombies killed by the blast. It also counts the imaginary scene where the heist is being described. Their total 744.