Kostucha The Reaper
An aged, cracked skull in a black hood, with fire burning in its eye sockets. Patient. Polite. Always counting.
“Come closer, child. I only need your name… for the list.”
Free · Open source · Runs on your computer
Your Halloween prop just woke up.
I've been waiting for you…
An AI face that watches trick-or-treaters, answers them in character and scares on cue. Turn any old monitor into a living monster.
Windows · macOS · Linux · MIT licence · the demo needs a decent GPU
Hauntface is a desktop app — open this page on a computer to download it.
Plastic skeletons repeat the same three lines. This one listens.
Hauntface is a free desktop app. It renders a real-time 3D monster face, listens to whoever walks up, answers them in character and looks straight at them. All you need is an old monitor, a webcam and a speaker hidden in your prop.
Two faces. Two tempers.
Meet the monsters
Baba Jaga The Witch
Green warty skin, a long hooked nose and slit cat eyes that blink a little too slowly. Pointy hat, grey hair. Chatty. Always hungry.
“Answer my riddle, sweetling, and you get candy. Answer wrong… and you stay for dinner.”
The ritual, in three steps
How it works
-
I
Download & pick a monster
Install Hauntface on Windows, Mac or Linux. The Reaper or the Witch — your choice.
-
II
Hide a screen in your prop
An old monitor or TV, a webcam, a mic and a speaker — tucked under a hood, in a window or behind glass.
-
III
Give it a brain. Wait for victims.
Paste a Claude key or a free NVIDIA key. Then turn off the porch light and wait.
What it can do
It is not a recording
It sees you
Webcam motion tracking: the head turns toward people, wakes up when someone approaches and dozes off when it's quiet. Frames (64×48) are processed locally — never stored, never sent.
It listens
Microphone plus Whisper speech-to-text. Talk to it normally — it understands.
It talks back, in character
It thinks with an LLM — Claude, or free and fast NVIDIA-hosted models on your own key. It never breaks character.
Demonic voice, real lip sync
A processed demonic or witchy voice, with the jaw moving in sync with every word.
Moves like an animatronic
The head moves like it's on servos — servo whine included. It breathes, blinks and nods while it speaks.
Riddles & a soul counter
Riddles for trick-or-treaters (right answer → candy) and a counter of “souls collected tonight”.
Puppeteer mode
Type a line and the monster says it. Every scare has its own hotkey.
Polish & English
Speaks Polish and English. Free and open source, for Mac (Apple Silicon), Windows and Linux.
One key. One scream.
The scare arsenal
Every sound is synthesized live — no audio files. Press the key at exactly the wrong moment.
- S
Lunge & shatter
Lunges at the viewer and the screen “shatters”.
- X
Exorcist
The head turns all the way round, bones cracking.
- L
Lightning
Real 3D lighting, then thunder.
- G
Possession
The face glitches. Something else takes over.
- B
Blood tears
Blood slowly runs from the eyes.
- T
Twitch
A sudden, nervous jerk.
- P
Spiders
They crawl out of the eye sockets.
- U
Ghosts
They drift through the fog.
- N
Wolves
Howling, somewhere out there.
- V
Cracked screen
The glass cracks from the inside.
- J
Midnight bell
Tolls the real hour. At midnight: the witching hour.
- C
Teeth chatter
Click. Clack. Click.
- W
Whisper
Something quiet, right by your ear.
- R
Laugh
The laugh you'll hear in bed later.
- E
Eyes on / off
The light in the eyes goes out… and comes back.
Coming
Make it real
Things still hatching. Not in the app yet — but already scratching at the lid.
ESP32 / Arduino bridge
Real LED eyes, a jaw servo and a fog machine, driven by the app.
Phone remote
Puppeteer the monster and fire scares from your phone, hidden behind a bush.
Offline mode
Ollama + whisper.cpp + Piper — no key, no internet.
More characters
Something else is waiting its turn in the dark.
Free. Forever. MIT licensed.
Summon it
Choose your tombstone.
Windows
Download .exeR.I.P.
macOS
Download .dmgIntel Mac? Run from source.
R.I.P.
Linux
Download AppImage .deb (Debian / Ubuntu)R.I.P.
Your system warns you about the app? Read this.
Hauntface builds aren't code-signed yet (certificates cost money; the project is free), so your OS will warn you. The code is open — you can read every line on GitHub.
Windows
When “Windows protected your PC” appears, click More info → Run anyway.
macOS
Drag Hauntface into Applications and try to open it. If macOS blocks it, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. If it says the app is “damaged”, run this in Terminal:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Hauntface.appLinux
The AppImage has to be marked executable:
chmod +x Hauntface-linux-x86_64.AppImage
./Hauntface-linux-x86_64.AppImageOr install the .deb:
sudo apt install ./Hauntface-linux-amd64.debFAQ
Forbidden questions
Is it recording people?
No. Webcam frames are analysed locally at a tiny 64×48 and thrown away immediately — just enough to know where someone is standing. In cloud mode, the speech and conversation text go to the AI provider you chose (Anthropic or NVIDIA). Hauntface itself stores nothing.
How much does it cost?
The app is free. The AI runs on your own key: Claude is pay-per-use — cents for a whole evening. NVIDIA offers free trial access with rate limits. An offline mode is coming.
Do I need an API key?
For now, yes — for Claude or for NVIDIA. You paste it into the app's settings. Once offline mode lands, you won't need one.
What hardware do I need?
Any computer from the last ~5 years with a GPU that can do WebGL2, plus a screen, webcam, mic and speakers. On first launch the 3D shaders compile, which can take 10–20 seconds on weak integrated GPUs.
Is it safe for kids?
There's a family mode and a strict prompt that keeps the monster in line. But it is still AI — keep an adult nearby.
Why does my OS warn me?
Because the builds aren't code-signed yet. How to get past the warning is right next to the downloads.
Raspberry Pi?
Not yet.