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Here's what people have been saying about Halloween Lies:
"Had a superb time last night playing Halloween Lies.
We've done several Freeform Games murder mysteries for my birthday and this year, hubby decided he'd like a freeform birthday too.
We chose Halloween Lies because, being October, we figured costumes and decorations would be easy to find.
We had such a fantastic response, we had to buy the expansion pack (although I have to say, as host this made planning envelopes etc much more complicated and some characters were worried that they didn't have as much info as others).
The costumes were utterly amazing and, due to the unseasonable weather, much of the game was played in the garden!
I have to be honest and say that folk were not that interested in making movies, but as always the format and fab writing enabled both newbies and old hands to get totally engrossed and people who had never met before were very soon in deep conversation.
I love freeform MM's – they are the mainstay of some of the very best parties we have hosted over the years. Thank you."
Clare Rogers, United Kingdom
"I thought you might like some pictures of our recent playing of
Halloween Lies (on the occasion of a birthday party). It was great
fun – astonishing amount of malicious gossip generated between the
players as the game evolved. We did the 'film acts' after the ending
of the game – and they were an absolute hoot."
Peter Rhodes-Dimmer, France
"We wanted ease of finding costumes (anybody can come up with a Halloween costume), plus a large party of 20+ people, plus Halloween Lies sounded more involved/interactive, less rigid structure than out of the box type murder mystery games.
All the guests seemed to have enjoyed themselves – people thought the movies section was the funniest!"
A Customer, Canada
"I chose Halloween Lies Expanded because I have played Freeform Games before and LOVED them! All your games have been WONDERFUL! They play themselves for the most part!"
Dorothy Mortimore, Wyoming, United States
If you would like to tell us how your party went, please click here to send us your story.
Halloween Lies – a horror-movie murder mystery game for 16 to 22 guests (or up to 32 with the expansion pack) and one or two hosts 
Costs £25.00 (about 37.92 US dollars)
Written by Steve Hatherley
Download the free
introductory file
Halloween Lies is a dinner party murder mystery game for 16 to 22 guests (or up to 32 with the expansion pack) and one or two hosts – download the free introductory pdf file.
Kids' version – this game includes a FREE special version written for kids and younger teens.
Join us in a thrilling evening of scheming, intrigue and skulduggery. You will be in the middle of the action and it will be up to you to wheel and deal with the other guests. Can you achieve your goals, keep your secrets hidden and survive Halloween Lies? It's up to you.
"Halloween Lies is really such a fun game because of the delight people have when getting into Halloween costumes."
'Slime' , United States
Halloween Lies
It's award night and Tom Speed's latest film, The Vampire Detective, has just swept the board and garnered five Skellies - for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Sadly, Tom Speed's award for Best Actor was accepted posthumously by his wife, Zara Vicars, as Tom was killed in a driving accident late last night.
Despite this note of sadness, celebrations are in full swing at the The Vampire Detective post-award party. Deals are being cut for future productions and everyone is having a good time enjoying the atmosphere and mingling with Hollywood's movers and shakers.
Is there anything suspicious about Tom Speed's death? Who will win next year's Skellies? Find out at Halloween Lies.
Read Halloween Lies
stories See Halloween Lies
pictures
Halloween Lies lasts for about four hours and is suited to an evening. It is often played over a meal – a finger buffet if possible to allow guests to circulate and talk in private.
"Great game! Lots of fun!
You have great customer service and I would recommend your site to anyone."
Susie Lloyd, Pennsylvania, United States
The free introductory pdf file contains an introduction to the game, a cast list of all the characters – plus details of how to buy the game.
New expanded version!
Important note: Halloween Lies is an alternative version of one of our other games, Hollywood Lies. The characters and the plots are the same, so if your guests have previously played Hollywood Lies, they'll know the secrets of Halloween Lies too! The difference is that Halloween Lies is written specifically for a Halloween party, while Hollywood Lies is suitable for any time of year.
These are the characters in Halloween Lies:
- Anna d'Lessey – Award-winning director of The Vampire Detective.
- Bernie Newman – Movie star wannabe.
- Bobby Treveeno – Entertainer of the old school.
- Brian d'Lessey – Anna d'Lessey's husband.
- Charles Henderson-Plum – British actor specialising in villains.
- CJ Vasquez – One of The Vampire Detective's co-producers.
- Crystal Beech – Award-winning star of The Vampire Detective.
- Detective Sandra Chase – One of Hollywood's finest detectives.
- Edison Flax – One of Hollywood's many agents.
- Ghana Moon – Award-winning screenwriter.
- Jack Simpson – Actor fired from The Vampire Detective before filming started.
- Jim Taylor – Actor and producer.
- Jules Milton – Manager of Spangles Hotel.
- Kara Montague: – Singer turned actress with a minor role in The Vampire Detective.
- Les Tytan – Mesmerist whose clients include Charles Henderson-Plum and Mel Cutter.
- Lou Dunlin – Respected Hollywood film director.
- Max McNab – Bit-part actor struggling to make the big time.
- Mel Cutter – Columnist for Hollywood News.
- Pip Slater – One of Hollywood's many agents.
- Sam Cortinelli – One of The Vampire Detective's stunt doubles.
- Terry Ford – Character actor who played "Hatch", a bodyguard, in The Vampire Detective.
- Zara Vicars – Co-producer of The Vampire Detective and Tom Speed's widow.
and these are the characters in the Expanded version:
- Anna d'Lessey – The Vampire Detective's director and winner of the Best Director award.
- Bernie Newman – Bernie has come to Hollywood to become a movie star.
- Bobby Treveeno – Bobby is an entertainer of the old school and can dance, act and sing. Bobby's career, however, is in decline.
- Brian d'Lessey – Anna's husband. Brian used to work for a movie-financing business.
- Charles Henderson-Plum – Charles played "Skipper Primley," The Vampire Detective's British villain.
- CJ Vasquez – One of The Vampire Detective's co-producers.
- Cord Rankin – Cord is a tough-guy character actor who recently appeared in The Sound of Screams.
- Crystal Beech – Star of The Vampire Detective. Crystal won a Skelly (Best Actress) for her role as Millicent Nimitz, the victim's wife. This is her first major role in a movie.
- Detective Sandra Chase – One of Hollywood's finest detectives, Detective Chase is well known to the movie community.
- Eden Delmonico – Eden is a rich heiress and actress. She recently appeared in The Sound of Screams.
- Edison Flax – Edison is one of Hollywood's many agents. He is also Tom Speed's agent.
- Ghana Moon – Ghana is one of Hollywood's most successful screenwriters, and won a Skelly forThe Vampire Detective.
- Hunter Sharp – Hunter is an independent film producer/director.
- Jack Simpson – Jack was originally signed up to act in The Vampire Detective, but was fired before filming started after Jack and Tom Speed had a blazing row.
- Jam Lafayette – Owner of the Sacre Bleu! restaurant and TV personality.
- Jim Taylor – Jim both acts and produces. He was one of The Vampire Detective's co-producers.
- Jules Milton – Manager of Spangles Hotel, where the The Vampire Detective post-Eric party is being held. Six years ago, Jules caused a fire that burned down three sound stages.
- Kara Montague: – Kara is a singer turned actress with a minor role ("Carmel Nightshade") in The Vampire Detective.
- Les Tytan – Les is a mesmerist whose clients have included Charles Henderson-Plum and Mel Cutter.
- Lou Dunlin – A respected Hollywood film director. Lou was the original director for The Vampire Detective, but was replaced by Anna d'Lessey during pre-production.
- Lucinda Dawson – Lucinda is a former soap opera actress turned agent.
- Max McNab – Max plays bit-parts and is struggling to get into the big time. In The Vampire Detective Max played "Cop in Elevator".
- Mel Cutter – Mel is the author of "Cutter's Comments", a notorious newspaper column in the Hollywood News. In the column, Mel described Dazzled to Death as "limp and tired" and accused Tom Speed of "having all the presence of a fishbowl". Mel is a regular feature at p
- Pip Slater – Pip is one of Hollywood's many agents.
- Randy Manfred – Randy is a character actor who tends to plays dumb evil henchmen.
- RT Markovitz – Press photographer for The Big Cheese, a newspaper.
- Sam Cortinelli – Sam Cortinelli is one of The Vampire Detective's stunt doubles. Sam is rumoured to have "family" connections.
- Terry Ford – Terry has experience of over 100 movies, playing character roles. In The Vampire Detective Terry played "Hatch", a bodyguard.
- Toy Shepherd – Toy is a comedian from the East Coast.
- Trixie Wells – Trixie owns a big corporation, TrixieCorp, but she's always wanted to make movies, so she's turned producer.
- Xavier Jones – Xavier is a composer who recently wrote the music for Anna d'Lessey's Blood Red.
- Zara Vicars – Zara is a rich and successful Hollywood producer, and co-producer of The Vampire Detective. Zara is also Tom Speed's widow.
| Number of guests | Male characters | Female characters | Characters that can be played by either sex |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| 17 | 4 | 5 | 8 |
| 18 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| 19 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
| 20 | 4 | 5 | 11 |
| 21 | 4 | 5 | 12 |
| 22 | 4 | 5 | 13 |
| 23 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| 24 | 5 | 6 | 13 |
| 25 | 5 | 6 | 14 |
| 26 | 6 | 6 | 14 |
| 27 | 6 | 7 | 14 |
| 28 | 6 | 7 | 15 |
| 29 | 7 | 8 | 14 |
| 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 |
| 31 | 8 | 8 | 15 |
| 32 | 8 | 8 | 16 |
How Freeform Games Murder Mysteries Work
Halloween Lies is unlike many murder mystery games. Although the game starts with a murder, most of the characters have more important things to do than to investigate it. And the killing may not be over – it is unlikely that everyone will survive the remainder of the evening!
Halloween Lies is played just like a murder mystery game. You may be trying to solve the murder, but primarily you are (initially at least) concentrating on your own goals and objectives. Unlike most boxed murder mystery games, Halloween Lies lets you decide how to achieve your goals and thwart your enemies.
"Halloween Lies was the BEST because all the characters had lots to do, were essential for the plot, intermingled and lots of subplots were happening at once."
A Customer, United States
On the evening of the game the guests are met by the organizer, the Master (or Mistress) of Ceremonies. They then receive their detailed backgrounds - including dark secrets, objectives and money. The players can form alliances, blackmail each other, steal items and even try to make the best movie for next year. Along the way they may solve some of Halloween Lies's mysteries. Who is having an affair? What has happened to the photos of Crystal Beech? Which script will be made into a movie? And of course, how did Tom Speed die? Finally, the game concludes and everyone finds out how they did, and what secrets everyone else was concealing.
Extra characters
Sometimes you have too many guests and you need more characters. So we've written a free extra character for each of our games that you can add in, and some of our customers have created their own characters for their parties and are kindly willing to share them.
Please note that we haven't tested these and they may not tie in exactly with our games.
IMPORTANT – if you've bought the game, you can download the files for these characters from the download page where you got your main game files. Contact us if you need the link and password to get back to that page.
- 'Ginger' Roberts – freelance reporter in search of the Big Story. (M/F)
(by Freeform Games) - Gwen Cortinelli – secretary and Sam Cortinelli's wife. (F)
(by Jo Stinett)
Purchasing Halloween Lies
Halloween Lies costs £25.00 (GB pounds). That works out at about US$37.92 at today's exchange rate, although the rate charged by your credit card may vary slightly.
To purchase Halloween Lies, follow these three steps.
Step 1: Download the free introductory pdf file. You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to read this. If you do not already have Acrobat Reader, click here.
Step 2: Read our terms and conditions of purchase. Then come back here and click on the button to buy the game!
Step 3: Our orders are processed by WorldPay – we don't actually see your credit card details. After you have entered your credit card details you will be emailed the location of the main pdf files, plus the password required to unlock them. You can then download those files and enjoy the game!
Or, buy now!
Cards we accept
We accept the following credit and debit cards:
Cast Iron Guarantee
We offer a Cast Iron Guarantee on all our murder mystery games. If you're not completely satisfied with Halloween Lies then please let us know within 30 days and we will refund you.