Films like “Plan 9 From Outer Space” and more recently “The Room,” reveal the appeal of bad movies. Neither one, though, was intended to be bad. A small Hollywood company is gaining attention for making films designed to be bad.

Meet gonzo filmmaker and part-time ballistics expert Saint James St. James.

“In 1990 I was hired to write and direct ‘Poolboy: No Lifeguard on Duty’ and ‘Poolboy 2: Drowning Out the Fury,’” says St. James.

The legendary filmmaker rocked Hollywood by making his directorial debut at the age of 10. Bucking the system at every turn, he quickly amassed more than a hundred movie credits to his name. His revenge opus “Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury,” was thought to be lost. But a massive online petition has brought the film back from oblivion…

What? You’ve never heard of Saint James St. James? Or “Poolboy”?

Well that’s because Saint James St. James isn’t a real director. He’s the creation of Ross Patterson and “Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury” just pretends to be a bad action film from the 90s. Patterson is an actor who got tired of auditioning for bit roles in formulaic Hollywood movies. Patterson gave Hollywood his best shot now he’s giving it his worst.

“‘Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury,’ literally, is the worst film ever made,” says Patterson with pride.

Boom mics drop into frame, peope forget lines, special effects go awry, and actors (including “Hercules’” Kevin Sorbo and “Machete’s” Danny Trejo) chew up scenery like it’s bubblegum. But there’s an art to being bad says Patterson: “The best way I can describe it, is kind of like Los Feliz hipsters out here, where it takes a lot of money to look poor. It takes a lot of hard work to make bad movies.”

You still have to cast talented actors, hire top crews, and efficiently plan shoots to make best use of locations. But then you have to make it all look bad.

“It’s looking for the right thing,” says editor and producer Ivan Victor, “Even though the right thing might be someone delivering a line in a truly awful, bad actressy kind of way. What’s the best worst read that you have of this particular line?”

Patterson adds, “There’s little things that maybe aren’t in the script, like there was a line in ‘Poolboy’ where an actor in the middle of a scene forgot his line so he just screams out for the script supervisor, ‘Line.’ So you can hear the script supervisor screaming out the line from off camera, and everyone pauses, and then the actor goes right back into the scene as if nothing happens. That is not in the script but having an editor as good as Ivan, he’s like what if we just left that moment in there? And it’s a brilliant scene in the movie.”Here’s the thing. Most of what Hollywood makes isn’t bad it’s bland and mediocre. What audiences want is something entertaining, something that’s fun to watch with friends. And there’s nothing like sharing a deliciously bad movie. Key ingredients are inspiration, genuine passion, and a knowing affection for the source material. Then a kind of alchemy comes into play.

“What you have here is almost like a Hegelian transformation into opposite,” says actor Jesse Merlin, “It’s something that is so bad it approaches the sublime.”

Merlin plays Werewolf Hitler in Patterson’s new film, “FDR: American Badass.” Apparently FDR (hilariously played by Barry Bostwick of “Rocky Horror Fame”) didn’t contract polio while at his summer home at Campobello. He got it from a werewolf bite, and the Axis leaders are all werewolves.

“You try to describe these movies to people,” says producer Tristan Drew, “And tell them that you are making a film about ‘FDR: American Badass,’ and they can’t quite wrap their head around it. They react with, ‘Are you serious?’”

And yes they are. Dead serious about making outrageous movies. “Poolboy’s” inspiration was the awful “The Room” and its pretentious director Tommy Wiseau while the campy 1966 original “Batman” was the model for “FDR.”

For more, visit KPBS’s Cinema Junkie.