Then again, I wasn't a bit fan of D&D horror in the first place in 2e for exactly the same reason. 2e characters are just too powerful to be challenged particularly by 2e monsters. You start so high on the power scale that minor undead are a speed bump. The only real challenge is "Do I have the right plus sword to kill this thing?"
i didn't find this in either edition. It is quite easy to tailor encounters to party power level. In 2E first level characters are quite weak, really minor undead were still a threat. The only character with any real endurance for combat is the fighter at that stage (the ranger and paladin too). But even they run out of HP quickly. Once they start gaining levels, there are plenty of potent threats to keeo them challenged, in ravenloft there are also lots of monster variations, and the precepts of the van richten books make it easy to increase or lower the challenge level.
In aloy of adventures, the point was to find the creature's weakness, which required investigation and planning (the van richten books are basically models for monster hunt campaigns). So the phs one sword becomes a feature, not a bug. Part of the adventure may be tracking down the sword that can harm the beast. It wasn't a very combat heavy game. For me, both editions worked well for investigations and monster hunts.
Also, in Ravenloft, Undead are harder to turn, lycanthropy is harder to cure, and there are lots if mechanics to support the genre. So spell effects and magical items are altered. Powers checks have a big impact on stuff like tomb raiding, and fear-horror checks can make you paralytic.
D&D, for me, has been strongly a heroic fantasy and pulp fantasy game. Neither lends itself to the idea of PC's being on the weak end of the power scale. I just haven't played D&D at that end of the spectrum to be honest. 3d6 in order? That may have been Method 1, but it was never the default where I played. It was always 4d6 arrange to taste.
for 1E 4d6 was default. For 2E 3d6 down the line was method 1 which led to most groups i encountered using it as default. But there were multiple methods, so they were all kosher. However, if the issue for you was the pcs were too powerful in ravenloft, useing method 1 was an ideal solution. That mkes uber characters a lot harder. Also, eliminating the complete books (or seriously limiting them) will dramatically reduce power levels in both 2E and 3E. The complete books in 2E were entirely optional. The whole system had tons of optional rules, so it was quite easy to reduce character power. The com
complete books in 3e were subject to GM oversight.
