Company: Paladin Press
Tape Name: Killshots
Tape Cost: $39.95
Length of Tape/Time: 1 ½ hours
Number of Moves/Techniques: At least 40, probably more
Return Policy: Refund on damaged or defective tapes only
Experiences in dealing with this company: Fantastic. Great customer service.
The Instructor: Dave Koss, Darryl Caldwell
Company's Address: PO Box 1307, Boulder, Colorado, 80306
Company's Phone Number: 303-443-7250
Web Page: http://www.paladin-press.com
E-Mail: sales@paladin-press.com


Main Grading Criteria

Production/Tape Quality: 10
Instructors demonstrated skill level: 8
Comprehension Score: 8
Degree to which this will make someone a better Martial Artist: 8
Score on delivery vs hype: 8
Degree to which we'd recommend this product: 8
Wasted Time (The higher the number, the less " fluff "): 10
Playback Score/Watching it over-and-over again): 10
Would I purchase more of this company's products: 10
Overall grade based on cost vs value: 10

Grand Total: Revised to 90% (Fair = 2.5 stars) Original score was 91 %


Secondary Grading Criteria

Beginners: Fair
Intermediate: Fair
Advanced: Fair
Time to benefit: A while on some techniques, immediate on others
The need to buy additional tapes to understand this one: Possibly more on the style of ninjitsu studied by the two instructors on this video.


Written Summary:

The introduction to this video describes the background of the two instructors as having trained in a style called Togakure Ninjitsu. Since I probably carry as much personal bias toward the word " ninja " as most martial artists I know, I sort of groaned to myself as I started to watch this tape.

However, this tape is not a bunch of guys in black hoods disappearing into thick clouds of billowing smoke but instead it was two guys in a living room doing good common sense martial arts techniques on one another. Some of the stuff I've seen, some I haven't. There seems to be a lot of emphasis placed on " mirroring your opponent " with your hips as you counter his various types of attacks. They also emphasized that it is important to train martial arts skill at realistic distances between opponents, thus implying that in some styles there is a failure to train at realistic fighting distances. They do a lot of painful joint and limb locking techniques, and there are a few shown that only advanced students will have seen. The last section on the tape deals with the tearing and ripping of flesh on an opponent's body and is the type of material we tend to think about when we see the code word " ninjitsu ". These boys do a decent job of demonstrating this rather gruesome aspect of fighting and how to apply it in a real fight.

Mr. Koss and Mr. Caldwell both appear to be very young compared to most of the martial arts video celebrities I have seen in the past. However just because they appear young, I was careful not to let a bias about age slip into this review. These guys know a fair amount about fighting and they show it as the video progresses.

My primary criticism of this video is that many techniques were just brushed over briefly and sometimes the camera angle was not at the optimum angle for observing the critical components that make the techniques work. The neck breaking technique done vs a right hook punch is a classic example. The tape is billed as " Killshots " which may be a bit of a marketing reach. Not every technique displayed lethal force, but it would be unrealistic to expect a tape to show that.

The tape is inexpensive and had a great number of unique techniques on it. Many are unconventional and would be handy to have in one's own personal arsenal.

CJ


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