The use of shadow in the first few issues and focusing not on the "protagonist" but the force that was trying to stop him really helped the 80's horror vibe.

Did you notice in the first arc set in the mineshaft that whenever the lights are "out" the panel layout removes the white background and only uses white to outline the panels? And then, when the team thinks they're safe in the command hub, the white backdrop returns, letting the reader think that they are, in fact safe, again. Then bam! They get attacked by something the reader isn't supposed to expect, and the panel layouts remove the backdrop entirely, only outlining panels. Later, when the cult is being massacred and Carnage is gaining power, the outlines that are white are replaced by greys and purples; all the light is gone. It's a really simple thing to help subconsciously tell a story. Comics are a beautiful medium, and as much as I don't agree with everyone on his work, Alan Moore puts the public perception best(paraphrased):

If we keep comparing comics to movies, then all comics can be is movies that don't move