What Is Art The Clown’s True Origin? Terrifier Fans Have Theories

The “Terrifier” films aren’t exactly known for being indirect. Creator Damien Leone has created a saga of unrelenting barbarity, with burgeoning horror icon Art the Clown slashing his way across a handful of short films and three features. Indeed, 2022’s “Terrifier 2” proved too brutal for even some seasoned horror fans, with reports of walk-outs helping propel the film to relatively impressive box office success. In 2024, Leone continued his mission to depict the most upsettingly graphic kills possible with “Terrifier 3,” itself a film that prompted walkouts simply due to a stomach-churning opening sequence.

This a film series that has seen Art the Clown sever a woman in half from the pelvis up, whip a victim with their own intestines, and absolutely decimate the body of a young girl in a scene that happens to represent Leone’s favorite kill and which has become the high watermark for unadulterated gore in the “Terrifier” saga. As such, the fact that Leone has demonstrated a tad more restraint when it comes to Art the Clown’s origin story is surprising.

Since he first debuted in the 2008 short film, “The 9th Circle,” Art has remained somewhat of a mystery. Initially presented as a supernatural stooge of the devil, for his feature film debut in 2016’s “Terrifier” the homicidal clown seemed to be more of a mortal man who embarked on a killing spree, committing suicide at the end of his depraved odyssey only to be resurrected by some supernatural force. As such, speculation about his beginning has followed the “Terrifier” saga since its inception, and it seems with the upcoming “Terrifier 4,” Leone will finally reveal Art the Clown’s origin story. In the meantime, the internet has, of course, speculated wildly about from where this maniacal harlequin sprang, which has actually led to some intriguing theories about his origin. Here are some of the best.

When Art the Clown first debuted it was as one of several demonic goons populating Damien Leone’s short film “The 9th Circle.” In this movie, Art appears to be serving the devil himself, capturing the film’s protagonist, Casey (Kayla Lian), before she wakes up trapped in some sort of netherworld where Satan himself ultimately sexually abuses her. Yes, “The 9th Circle” ends with the devil having forced intercourse with a young female victim. If you can get past the sheer depravity of it all, one Reddit user suggests that this horrific moment was, in fact, the beginning of Art the Clown.

According to the Redditor, Art The Clown is the cursed offspring that resulted from this ungodly tryst at the end of “The 9th Circle,” and was sent by Satan to kill Sienna (Lauren LaVera) in “Terrifier 2” and “Terrifier 3” as his secret weapon. It’s an interesting idea, especially since the ending of “Terrifier 3” harkens back to Leone’s original short. The final scene sees Art sitting at a bus stop when a bus pulls up. Onboard is a woman (Jen Ayer Drake) reading a horror novel entitled “The 9th Circle.” We know, then, that Leone at least intends to link his more recent films with his original short, but does this suggest that Art’s actual origin is contained within “The 9th Circle?”

The only issue there is that Art appears fully formed in the short film before the devil arrives and ostensibly conceives the killer clown. So would that mean Art’s first appearance was merely a vision of what was to come for Casey? Either that, or this version of Art was another child of Satan, and not the version of the clown we see in the feature films. It’s an intriguing take either way.

While 2016’s “Terrifier” was, as /Film’s Chris Evangelista put it in his “Terrifier 2” review, “a plotless, storyless, valueless excuse to showcase gore,” the sequel injected a lot more in the way of storyline and lore into Damien Leone’s franchise. Part of that saw the introduction of Lauren LaVera’s Sienna, who by the end of “Terrifier 2” is confirmed to be some sort of cosmic adversary of Art’s — a chosen warrior with the power to defeat the maniacal clown.

The film also reveals that Sienna’s late father, Michael (Jason Patric), was an artist who was apparently struck by visions of Art’s rampages. In “Terrifier 2,” Sienna’s brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) finds a book full of their father’s drawings, which depict Art and his victims. Michael also evidently designed Sienna’s angel warrior costume in a drawing that Sienna uses to create her outfit later in the film, and is the one who gave her the sword that proves to be the only weapon capable of defeating Art. What’s more, his drawing of Sienna shows her holding the head of the devil, which looks very similar to the version of Satan we saw during the climax of “The 9th Circle.”

“Terrifier 2” also reveals that Michael suffered from a brain tumor that caused him to become abusive before he died in a car crash. But one theory suggests that before he did so, he essentially created Art. That is to say that Art the Clown is one of Michael’s drawings that came to life. As YouTuber nERD bOX explains, this theory suggests Michael’s sketches are “more than just drawings of visions that plagued him, they were portals into a parallel dimension” through which Art was able to enter the real world. Michael then drew Sienna’s warrior angel costume as a way to fight back against these horrific beasts he’d unwittingly unleashed — perhaps as a result of his brain tumor.

There’s a lot more depth to this theory, as laid out by nERD bOx in his video. But whether Art is one of Michael’s drawings come to life or was able to use the drawings as some sort of portal, there’s certainly something hugely significant linking Sienna’s late father and Art’s murderous rampages.

One of the most prevalent fan theories regarding Art the Clown is that he is, in fact, Sienna’s father. We know that Michael Shaw lost his mind and became abusive before he ostensibly died, but do we know for sure that he wasn’t resurrected by the same forces that have been shown to resurrect both Art and Sienna?

Several fans of the series have suggested that Art is some version of Sienna’s father, with some pointing to the fact that the clown didn’t kill Sienna and her brother in as hasty a fashion as the rest of his victims. In “Terrifier 3,” however, we learn that Art is attempting to break Sienna down with his vicious killings so that the demonic force that inhabits Victoria Heyes (Samantha Scaffidi) can finally enter Sienna’s body and use her as a host, which would explain why Art doesn’t kill Sienna. That said, why Sienna is of such importance to the homicidal harlequin and his demonic cohort isn’t entirely clear. 

What’s more, there are quite a few things that don’t make sense about the “Terrifier” series, and a “Star Wars”-style “I am your father” reveal would be a suitably bonkers way to wrap up one of the most unhinged cinematic sagas of modern times. Sadly for fans of this theory, Damien Leone has denied the entire thing, saying during a Monster-Mania Q&A (via Bleeding Cool)

“My least favorite is that everybody thinks that Jason [Patric] is really Art. That Sienna’s father is Art the Clown. But, I mean, that’s a theory. You won’t know what anything is until the saga comes to a definitive conclusion.”

While some fans maintain Leone’s comments are a misdirect, there have also been some very convincing refutations of the whole thing, with one Redditor laying out every piece of evidence against the “Art is Sienna’s father” theory.

In “Terrifier 3,” Art and Victoria hide in the attic of a house before recommencing their killing spree. Before that happens, though, they are discovered by two workers who are inspecting the house prior to its demolition. One of these workers tells his colleague about a serial killer from the 1990s who went on a killing spree that saw him murder several children and store their bodies at a funhouse — presumably, the same funhouse where the climax of “Terrifier 2” took place. Though the demolition worker ultimately claims to be messing with his colleague, some fans believe this is Art’s true origin story.

Redditors have noted that in the first “Terrifier,” Art appears to be human (as evidenced by a montage of him applying his makeup and his apparent surprise at being resurrected). Leone certainly seemed to embrace the supernatural elements with “Terrifier 2,” depicting Art as a much more conventional serial killer in the original “Terrifier” from 2016, in which Art was recast and David Howard Thornton played the role for the first time.

In this take on the “Terrifier” films, Art is a former human who was a depraved serial killer before being resurrected by the same demonic forces that inhabited the creepy little pale girl in “Terrifier 2.” As such, the character would have started as a sadistic human who became imbued with supernatural abilities after being brought back from the dead for “Terrifier 2.” If so, the demo worker’s recollection of this killing spree could very well be the key to Art’s origin. This would, however, make the events of “All Hallows’ Eve” — a film that uses footage from “The 9th Circle” and the first “Terrifier” short film — potentially non-canon. As it stands, we are just going to have to wait for Leone to confirm the true story of Art’s origin when “Terrifier 4” debuts.