^Yes, I have the same feeling of them being more present in the books. Like Elessar said, they were terrifying in FotR because we know so little about them and the Hobbits' reactions to them enhance the creepy feeling. But every time the Fellowship feels the presence of the Ringwraiths in the books it's pretty scary because you don't know where they are and what they will do. And above all, because a lot of their scary powers is what they have over the mind.. I know, they made me all paranoid!
In the movies I don't think they were scary at all. They were just another enemy.. no, well.. actually, they were pretty scary in FotR.. now I think about it.
The scenes in FotR when the wraiths chase the Hobbits to Bree at night were creepy. But later on when they got out in the open in broad daylight when they chased Arwen and Frodo to the river and later when they got fell beasts they were just another enemy. What creeped me out was their stealing around in the shadows but once they showed themselves and became real, tangible enemies (in the movies) they lost most of the eeriness.
