Full disclosure:
I never played through Dead Space. I'm doing so now.
About an hour in. This game has all the stuff it needs to be legitimately scary, but I think the game would have benefited from not having musical cues every time a monster pops out of a vent. If I hear that, it's gun out, locked and loaded.
If an enemy hits me out of nowhere or I hear them right beside me when I didn't know they were there before? Then I will start screaming