Gory madmen behind the camera, very polite in person

I never fail to find it delightful when it turns out that almost all of the directors of the horror films that I got told were warping my brain so much growing up in the 80s appear to be thoroughly nice guys. 

Clive Barker's movies would skin you alive and drop you into the never-ending shadow of Leviathan, but Barker himself was always charming and affable, and surprisingly modest for somebody who had entire universes of different magic rolling through his head.

Wes Craven could drop something as shocking and genuinely upsetting as Last House on the Left, while never coming across as less than incredibly thoughtful and empathetic, and many of the people behind the most outrageous movie shit are lovable dorks.

I know there were still a lot of creeps in the industry, but horror movies directors seem to be the most well-adjusted crowd. Getting all the darkness out of their heads and splattering across a movie screen really does seem to be good for the soul.