Okay, before we go any further, I think it's important that I make a small confession: I did not watch this film all the way through. After about 30-minutes, with another 51-minutes to go, I found myself quoting Popeye and screaming at the television, "I've had all I can stands, I can't stands no more!!!" From there, I "watched" the rest of this mind-rotting trash in fast-forward mode. And even then the film was poorly made and boring.

What passes as the plot of this ineptly cobbled together mess has something to do a bloody battle between rival drug gangs on the mean streets of New Orleans. The cops are trying to get things under control, while the mayor (Lou Diamond Phillips) presses them for results. At least that's what seems to be going on. In all honesty, after 30-minutes--more than a full third of the way into the film--it wasn't making much sense.

The box art for Death Toll features DMX and Lou Diamond Phillips as the two top-billed actors. DMX actually isn't in the movie--at least not in such a way that he actually appears with anyone else, or is an integral part of the story. Instead, he periodically stands in front of the camera and does the growling dog-bark talking thing of his, as he expounds some sort of 'hood philosophy. I think he's supposed to be some type of Greek chorus, but the film is put together with such a lack of intelligence, that I am left wondering if anyone involved actually knows what a Greek chorus is. As for Phillips' involvement in this craptacular mess...either he lost a bet, or someone blackmailed him into doing this dreck. Either way, I'm sure he can forget his involvement in Death Toll by seek aversion at the bottom of a bottle somewhere.

There may be some people who take issue with me not watching this film all the way through. Well, that's just too damn bad. Honestly, if I had rented this crap, I stopped watching it long before reaching the 30-minute mark, and I would have taken it back to the store and demanded my money back. But because I was reviewing it--for no money, by the way--I felt compelled to try and watch the whole thing. But the truth is that Death Toll is a terrible film, and not worth watching in any capacity.

Video:
Death Toll is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen. The film is not that well shot, and at times the lighting is bad, so you can only expect so much from the picture. The transfer itself looks not totally terrible, especially when watching the film in fast-forward.

Audio:
Death Toll is presented 5.1 Surround and 2.0 stereo. The audio levels are not consistent throughout the film, the overall sound mix is not particularly good, and the transfer is inferior. And yet the audio is one of the better parts of the film.

Bonus Material:
There is no bonus material.

Final Thoughts:
This is why the "fast-forward" button was invented.