Yeah, but I think darkness helps a LOT. The Silent Hill and Fatal Frame titles are all VERY dark and it makes for a pretty creepy atmosphere. I love being scared, but it takes a lot of work on your part to get that feeling (I wish more games could pull it off). I suppose it varies from person to person, but the inability to see what is around me adds a lot to the sense of fear. Whether it is due to the lack of lights or perhaps the bottomless depths of a deep ocean, if I can't see what lies ahead, but know something might be there, it adds a lot to the experience. Being able to clearly see what you are going up against generally destroys any tension for me. That's why Doom 3 failed in that area. When creatures were present, they were always after you. There was no build up or tension. You have a clear view of the creatures until they were dead. No sense of fear at all.
SS2 was pretty intense, though, but that's an exception and it WAS pretty dark. Deus Ex was not even slightly creepy nor was the FEAR demo. Remember, though, those are PC games. You complained about your TV sucking, not your PC monitor. I suppose a lot of these games really depend on your display. I use a CRT HDTV for my console gaming, so I can have completely dark blacks constrasting with light. I can't enjoy dark games on an LCD, though, simply because the black levels are destroyed. So, someone using such a display might feel the way you do.