In a scene are your characters mostly in the dark? Then, evoke the scene through the sense of sound more than sight. Remember to let your scene description mirror character experience.
This works because description is a stand-in for perception, and when you show a reader too much visual detail in a dark scene, you quietly break the spell — the character is groping through shadow while the prose sees everything clearly. Sound closes that gap. A floorboard creak, the hum of a refrigerator, breath held too long: these carry tension because they're exactly what a person in the dark would actually notice.
Try this: instead of writing "the hallway was narrow and lined with old photographs," write "something brushed her sleeve, and somewhere ahead a pipe ticked as it cooled." The caution is balance — lean on sound too heavily and every dark scene starts to feel identical, all creaks and breathing. Let touch and smell take occasional turns too, so the darkness still feels specific.
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