ICON FILM STUDIOS, home to THE SLEAZE BOX brand and the company that brought you the most controversial film in recent years, AMERIKAN HOLOKAUST.  ICON’s SLEAZE BOX brand specializes in bring you the most sleaziest, in your face, punch to the gut horror or exploitation themed films and DVD releases.  Here is a brief history on how this company got started which dates back to 1993.

 

Before the film studio had a name, it was loosely started after Chris Woods and Simon Lynx were working on a video project for school back in New York.  Friends since the late 1980’s the two started making movies in the early to mid-1990’s, which were no-budget horror films.  Woods eventually moved to Florida to go to college and started making a number of student films.  Lynx moved to Florida a few years later and again teamed up with Woods to make more films. From 1995-1997 along with their friend Luis Matos, they had a horror anthology series on Public Access called CREEPING DEATH. In 1997 they made the bizarre mind twister short film SHADOW OF A VICTIM and in 1998 they made the Sci-fi short thriller CHAMELEON.

 

For the next 2 to 3 years Woods and Lynx of spent most of their time writing and scouting for their new film which was a feature length entitled BLEED. In 2002 they officially formed ICON FILM STUDIOS. Later that year they released BLEED, which won several awards.  Between 2002 through 2005 ICON worked with many other talented filmmakers, actors and musicians.  Between those years they made a few short films such as REMEMBRANCE, TO LIVE IS TO DIE, RED MOON, BROKEN TOMORROW, POP, and SEVER.

 

In 2007 Chris Woods teamed up with filmmaker Shelby McIntyre and the two produced a documentary on TAMPA legend and owner of the world famous strip club, Mons Venus, Joe Redner. The film was called STRIP CLUB KING: THE STORY OF JOE REDNER. McIntyre directed the film and Woods was the editor as well. The film was released in late 2008 and since then has screened at several film festivals including the Gasparilla International Film Festival in Tampa. The film was released on DVD in 2009 and is available at Amazon, Best Buy, fye, Borders, Target, and many other outlets. The documentary also had a few runs on video on demand on such cable providers as Time Warner, Bright House, Comcast, Cox, and Verizon FiOS and is still available on HULU.

 

In 2009, Woods got to work with one of his filmmaking heroes, The Godfather of Gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis, who made the first splatter or gore film in the 1960's with Blood Feast. Lewis made many films throughout the 60's and early 70's, but then retired from moviemaking. Woods got to be the editor on his latest film THE UH OH! SHOW that was directed by Lewis and produced by Andrew Allan and Andy Lalino. The film is to be released on DVD in 2011.

 

Through 2009 to 2011 Lynx and Woods worked on a few other short films like SPAVENTARE, which screened at many festivals such as Spooky Empire's The Freak Show Film Festival, Gasparilla, Indie Creep, and Reel Terror where it won an award for Best Creep Factor. Lynx and Woods also released another short film, WHITE LIE starring Joel D. Wynkoop.  The film also played in several film festivals and picked out some awards.

 

In 2011, John Miller joined the group and Woods and Miller started working on a number of short films in 2011 and 2012.  Starting with MONDO SOCKO, HENNESSY x RED and VOMIT SOUP all directed by Miller and TASTE ME and DARK COMEDY all directed by Woods.  The two also started the web series, THE SLEAZE BOX, which showcases Top 5 lists on horror/sci-fi/exploitation/cult film related topics.  The show is hosted by Miller and Woods and featured some skits by the Grindhouse Girls and Aja “Splatterbaby” Jones.

 

In 2013 ICON would branch out and make THE SLEAZE BOX a brand with its first movie release AMERIKAN HOLOKAUST, which has grown an underground following worldwide.  The film has been reviewed on many websites and publications and made many Top Ten lists in 2013.  It has also screened at a number of film festivals worldwide.  The film starred Bob Glazier and Jules Sceiro and the two would become staples in The Sleaze Box world.

 

In 2014, THE SLEAZE BOX brand pumped out more films with the release of MAKE THEM DIE SLEAZY.  The film included short films from Woods, Lynx and Miller and made into a horror anthology.  They also expanded the brand to make the company a distributor of films both from THE SLEAZE BOX and other filmmakers.  They re-released the 1993 S.O.V. cult classic from Phil Herman, BURGLAR FROM HELL and Terence Muncy’s 2008 film HELL WALKS THE EARTH.

 

They also teamed with filmmaker Sean Donohue from Gatorblade Films to release his brand new film JOE VAMPIRE sometime in late summer 2014.  THE SLEAZE BOX also has two more films to be released in 2014, NAUGHTY, DIRTY, NASTY directed by Woods starring Ashley Lynn Caputo and Krystal “Pixie” Adams.  This was the first of many films that The Sleaze Box would work with these actresses.

 

Later that year Sean Donohue would come up with the film that became Sleaze Box's and Gatorblade's big franchise, DEATH-SCORT SERVICE.  Released in 2015 and it was on many top ten list of the year and became a cult classic in the underground.  It spawned two sequels, DEATH-SCORT SERVICE PART 2: THE NAKED DEAD released in 2017 and directed by Donohue, who also directed the first one and TASTE ME: DEATH-SCORT SERVICE PART 3 released in 2018 and directed by Chris Woods and is a remake of Woods' short film from 2012.  Part two and three introduced The Sleaze Box world to actresses Sushii Xhyette Holder and Katie McKinley and actor Eigh8t The Chosen One.  

 

Also in 2015 Sleaze Box released John Miller's $KUMBAGZ and also released films from other filmmakers that year like Joel D. Wynkoop's SLASHER WEEKEND and Phil Herman's TALES TILL THE END and JACKER and JACKER 2.  Also in 2015, Miller would leave the Sleaze box, but Woods carried it on and continued to work with Sean Donohue and his Gatorblade Films on many film projects and releases.

 

In 2016, Woods release one of his most ambitious movies to date with CHAOS A.D.  He original started working on this script back in 1995 and over twenty years later he was able to make it happen.  The introduced female horror villains such as Bytch, Vixen and Misery.  The film starred staple actors and actresses such as Ashley Lynn Caputo, Joel D. Wynkoop and Bob Glazier and also it starred Lisa Marie Kart, Cayt Feinics, Amanda Welch, Saharra Huxly and Eric Danger Dionne.  The film also was produced by Sean Donohue who also did the special effects under the name Picardo Limbo.

 

Also later in 2016 Sleaze Box and Gatorblade Films released Donohue's Christmas horror film CANNIBAL CLAUS starring Bob Glazier and featured many Sleaze Box staples.  In 2019 the film was featured in Richard Mogg's Christmas horror movie book, GIFTWRAPPED AND GUTTED. 

 

Throughout the rest of the decade Sleaze Box would release a number of films from a number of filmmakers.  Phil Herman's BEFORE I DIE, Ryan Cavalline's THE GREAT AMERICAN SERIAL KILLER, STOCKHOLM SYNDROME and DAY OF THE AX, Terence Muncy's SLICE, Richard Tanner's ONCE UPN A NIGHTMARE, Brad Twigg's FIENDISH FABLES and GHOULISH TALES, Joel D. Wynkoop's WYNKOOP TALES, Dustin Ferguson's SHOCKUMENTARY and the lost film NECROSLUTS.

 

Woods also produced and release the TALES FOR THE MIDNIGHT HOUR PARTS 1 and 2 on blu ray in 2018.  Phil Herman, Dustin Hubbard and Joel D. Wynkoop were also producers on the film.  Then in 2019, Sleaze Box and Gatorblade Films would release EARTH GIRLS ARE SLEAZY which was an anthology that featured different directors of the horror underground such as Tim Ritter, Marcus Koch and Phil Herman.

 

As the 2010's were coming to a close, Woods starred to go the digital streaming route with starting a on demand channel on Vimeo called SLEAZE BOX ON DEMAND where you can rent or buy films digitally.  Woods would add more and more titles both new and old to the channel in the start of 2020.  Also a number of Sleaze Box films started to appear on the streaming service TROMA NOW!

 

Also, in 2019 Chris Woods would film a non-Sleaze Box film called FAMILY SNAPSHOT which is a drama starring Eigh8t The Chosen One and Bob Glazier and also produced by Sean Donohue.  The film does not have a release date but will be out sometime in 2021.

 

THE SLEAZE BOX and ICON FILM STUDIOS will continue to bring you the best entertainment that it can bring and with The Sleaze Box brand it will continue to bring you the sleaziest films in the modern era of exploitation underground horror.  Keep it here to this web site for up to date news on what is happening in the world of THE SLEAZE BOX!