Ok...
Firstly the light thing, for future reference. From what I can tell it sounds like the same prob I had a while ago - I couldn't turn lights on because I had de-activated them initially in the map editor. Is this what you had done as well? If so, what you can do is set it to active again in the editor, then in OnStart/OnEnter you set the light visible to false, then true when you want it to turn on.
1 - GiveSanityDamage(float afAmount, bool abUseEffect);
That function has some screen stuff built in, the sudden narrowing effect that happens during scary events in TDD. There are also a whole bunch of effects under the 'Screen Effects' section of the engine script wiki page
3 - You might be able to use SetPropStaticPhysics(string& asName, bool abX); to make the hatch hang, but if it needs to swing open you might have to do some tweeking to get the timing right
No idea about 2, sorry