The life system sounds like to be really interesting. I didn't understand how it worked but feels like quite a cool idea now that you explain it.
About special power: is it possible to proceed in the game without killing the enemies? I thought that in order to proceed I was supposed to kill (/turn to friends) all the enemies coming from the red door. Was the solution something different? I agree that having the power be limited in use fits well in a horror game as long as the player can also proceed without it. In that situation (without knowing what I should be doing) I thought I had to fight the enemies and the power-up seemed like the only way to do it.