Cradle of Filth by Neil Melanson
190 reviews · 4.98 / 5
Neil Melanson · Combo
The Headhunter Guillotine Series by Neil Melanson has 106 customer reviews in this archive, averaging 4.97 out of 5. 97% are five-star and 0 are one or two stars. Reviews run from April 16, 2018 to June 24, 2026. All of them are published below in full, unedited.
Awesome content as always!
I was able to immediately incorporate these moves into my game and see results.
Get this if the Guillotine is your favourite!
Unfortunately due to Covid lockdowns I have not been able to train. So I got Neil’s head hunter series as guillotines are a weak point of mine. So far it’s easy watching but more importantly it’s reasonably basic to understand. Hopefully we get back on the mats soon so I can put some into practice!
One of my favorite things about Coach Neil's instructionals is that he begins from a logical starting point -- assuming you know very little about the submission or position he's covering. He always gives a good introduction, covers the basics and fundamentals, and progresses from there. I love this because I feel like it negates any bad habits the viewer may have picked up and makes sure everyone watching has the same starting point. So, for this instructional, you get the same quality introduction to the front headlock you would get if you had just joined a wrestling team. This is invaluable, especially for people who don't have any wrestling experience, because I feel like it's far easier to find mediocre front headlock tutorials on YouTube than it is good ones. I watched this instructional all the way through when I first bought it, and I continue to go back to it multiple times to rewatch certain segments. Anyone who's watched videos from Coach Neil knows he does an outstanding job of explaining what your whole body should be doing during a technique, from foot and leg placement, to weight distribution, grips, and head positioning. The specific chokes from this instructional I've been working on are the Boa Choke, Switch D'arce, and Handgun Choke. The Handgun Choke, in particular, seems incredibly versatile. If you like Coach Neil's YouTube tutorial for it, you'll be happy to know he provides significantly more details here. When you have your opponent in a front headlock, if you're someone who 1.) holds on and just keeps them there because you don't know what else to do, 2.) always spins around and takes the back without trying any submissions first, or 3.) is stuck in a rut of going for the same 1 or 2 submissions every time, I highly recommend getting this instructional.
Concise clear explanations on not only the entries and positioning but how to finish and the things you will run into and have to overcome. Fantastic. Coach Neil never disappoints
Now people catching chokes outta everywhere. No one is safe :smiley:
Awesome Information from Neil Melanson. He’s becoming one of my favorite instructors to follow as I like his style. Great attention to detail.
Great series that is easy to understand and implement when rolling.
I hated guillotines until this instructional. Nownn be I look for them.
I might’ve left a review before but this is deserving of a follow up. My percentage of Finishing high elbow guillotines has Skyrocketed after owning this dvd for a few months. I’ve hit a few others like infinity less frequently but the grip details and finishing angle Neil provides has opened up my ability to always threaten a guillotine from lots of positions. The biggest difference is my confidence attacking the chokes and willingness to transition into attacks I could never finish consistently before. Shoulder pin is next, hit a Neil knot yesterday!
Awesome techniques
Awesome stuff! Super excited to have snagged it up.
Great instructor one of my favorite people. Neil is very knowledgeable and breaks things down. In a easy to learn formate.
Neil Melanson is a genius. All of his videos are excellent, and provide straight forward and easy to understand instruction on some of the most powerful and unusual techniques. Great set ups, entries, and submissions.
I have read stories about Neil and wasn´t sure to buy his DVD but I cannot regret it , I am still rewatching Manly Choke and cannot wait to use it after this pandemia. Even in the first volume I learnt how to improve anacondas and/or arm in guillotines with a simple detail I was ignoring. Stop looking so much for BJJ lineage and open your mind to other grapling styles too, specially for MMA if a teacher is as good as Melanson you can always learn something. PD: I am giving only 4 stars because sometimes I my vision gets blurry and would have loved to have some close ups (guess that´s the name :/ ) of the grips but is a positive criticism, the material is one of the best i have seen in BJJ Fanatics.
Neil’s mastering triangles book completely changed my game. Everything he puts out makes an immediate impact and is intuitive to start using during your next roll. This dvd is fantastic and will make these attacks much more dangerous. One thing I’ve noticed when applying his systems like shoulder pin to gi is how incredibly tight you are on an opponent since it all must work in no gi/mma. My favorite coach.
I am absolutely obsessed with this DVD. It is just INCREDIBLE!! It takes your bjj light years ahead of your game. Neil's teaching is impeccable and the amount of detail you learn is outstanding. The first time I started watching this DVD I could not stop and watched the whole thing with no break. It is just at a different level. I watched all 4 dvd 4 times while taking notes the first 2 weeks and each time I pick up new details and plan to keep watching it. Neil takes advanced techniques and breaks them down and makes them so effective that your training partners will hate you. The techniques and details create so much leverage and power and allow you to make your chokes incredibly powerful and devastating. Neil gives you some amazing tips to make the toughest athletes tap and it works!! I purchased several dvd's in past on guiletines, watched all instagram #guiletine and youtube videos and studied under several instructors and after I watched Neil's DVD's I felt like I knew nothing on this technique. It just opens a whole new world with several set ups, devilish details that is mind boggling. This DVD changed my whole aspect on strength training and BJJ. The technical detail is so elite that you put the gnarliest chokes on people and create devastating pressure to a point that can't be stoppable. The only regret I have is that I did not purchase this DVD earlier. The youtube videos Neil has on guillotines are great but does not do justice to how much great content there is on this DVD. I have been telling this dvd to all my friends. I can't recommend it enough !
Neil is amongst my favorite grapplers to learn from. His style is nasty, his teaching is superb. Learning to control your opponent by their neck and head is a massive game changer. I highly recommend the headhunter series
This is an amazing instructional, Neil explains and demonstrates things perfectly. Going to pick up the rest of his videos, his system is ideal for wrestlers transitioning into submission grappling.
Neil is the man! His game is so direct and his explanations are on point!
A game changer , and a must have !
Neil knows what he is doing and this instructional is a good alternative to others from a different perspective, a must have.
Awesome series that really helped my head hunting during rolls.
The details on Neil’s instructions are very helpful. Very easy understand and follow.
190 reviews · 4.98 / 5
133 reviews · 4.96 / 5
123 reviews · 4.97 / 5
105 reviews · 4.99 / 5
96 reviews · 5.0 / 5
91 reviews · 4.97 / 5
Every number on this page is computed from the 106 reviews above at build time, out of 87,673 in the full archive. See the methodology for how the corpus is collected and what is excluded.