Sorry to misinterpret - the reason I got confused was that 90% of your post was calling Arkane incompetent hacks unable to do anything legit and resorting to cheap tricks instead.

Double sorry because although spiders don't scare me they terrify my younger son irrationally - you could draw a circle with four lines on each side and he'd want nothing to do with it.

Back on topic, you're right …

Did anyone find Doom 3 remotely scary? There were a couple of surprise moments but they wore off fast.

And the FEAR expansion is definitely more creepy & scary than the original …

Yep, Ocean House rules! I love that part of VTM:Bloodlines, and yes, it did freak me out a bit!

I made a series of gifs of it that you can find at this old link @ the 'Dot

Sam's Ocean House thread

Besides that, I admit that some parts of Doom III scared me. That is, before the fiftieth zombie shuffled up behind me and bit me on the rear!

Shalebridge Cradle in Thief 3 for me too. The Corprusarium in Morrowind was rather scary to me as well, and F.E.A.R. had me spooked out several times…

I guess I was too busy doing comparative studies to be scared ('Are you an imp? You're an imp, screening passed. - What, a baby bee? Wait, this critter wasn't in the real Doom! Treason! - Dang, who are YOU? Hey, you're a Quake 1 vore, get lost.")

Heh, I can imagine that was immersion breaking indeed.

Shalebridge cradle and Ocean house are two very good
examples for me too.

Clive barker's undying is also very effective (especially them damn Howlers).

F.E.A.R also I like a lot due to my japanese horror fixation probably
(I know its corny and most of its devices feel like a cop out but I am
into still) Havent played the expansion yet…

HL2's ravenholm was more "cool" rather than scary imo…

Oh how could I forget… Phantasmaghoria Definately (#1 mostly)

CoC : Dark Corners of the Earth had its moments too (especially
with the little girl. Nice treat this game for us lovecraft lovers btw
gameplay wise could do better though).

Having finished the FEAR XP, it is definitely creepier - and sustains that tension level throughout. Pretty nice in that way …

I guess I'l Have to see. I liked the demo pretty much for starters.
Was wondering How they were going to keep things interesting
since you were supposed to be beset by Alma's minions for the
most part according to a preview I have read, but from what I
saw they have some nice variety added there too…

P.S
The Crypt from Arx Fatalis, another favorite I forgot.

If you plan to check it out, Circuit City has it for $17.99 next week.