Art the Clown/Synopsis

The story of Art the Clown from The 9th Circle

All Hallows' Eve
Two siblings named Tia and Timmy return home to their babysitter, Sarah, after trick-or-treating on Halloween night. As Timmy searches his candy bag, he discovers an unmarked VHS tape. Sarah reluctantly allows Tia and Timmy to watch the tape, under the condition that she is present to supervise them. On the tape, there are three short films featuring Art.

The first short film on the VHS tape begins with a woman named Casey waiting at a train station. A couple, dressed in Halloween costumes, enter the waiting area, heavily intoxicated. One of them asks Casey if she knows what time the train is leaving, to which she politely declines knowledge of. Shortly after they leave, Casey heads to the bathroom to wash her face, and when she returns, she sees Art waiting at the station as well, staring at her. He proceeds to harass Casey by repeatedly honking a clown horn at her, prompting her to ask him to stop. Art then mocks surprise and makes an attempt to (non-verbally) reconcile with Casey by offering her a plastic flower, to which she accepts. Casey is startled when she discovers cockroaches hidden within the flowers, much to Art's amusement. She then attempts to escape the room, but Art grabs her arm and sedates her with a syringe. A heavily sedated Casey looks back up at Art, who is sarcastically waving at her, while flashing his glowing eyes, and smiling sadistically.

Casey wakes up in chains at an abandoned area underneath the train station, along with two other girls, named Kristen and Sara. She tries to scream for help, but to no avail. When Casey attempts to break free of her chains, Kristen informs her that there's no point in attempting to escape, recounting how she witnessed another victim get dragged away by an unknown force moments earlier, despite her and Sara attempting to save her. While Kristen is cynical and convinced they should stay where they are until someone finds them, both Sara and Casey believe they should attempt to actively find a way to escape. As Sara attempts to comfort Casey, she is dragged away in her chains by an unknown force. Casey convinces Kristen to accompany her and head deeper into the complex in an attempt to find a way to break free of their chains. The pair eventually manage to find the source of their chains, and attempt to use a rock they find nearby to break them free. Before they can do so, a hideous creature appears and attacks Kristen with a butcher knife, severs her hand, and stabs her to death. The creature then attacks Casey, and accidentally cuts off her chains in the process, allowing her to escape. After Casey flees, she stumbles upon a homeless man with a shopping cart and begs him for help. She then notices that Kristen's severed hand is in the shopping cart, and the man, revealing himself to be a demonic creature, abducts her.

Casey is being held captive, along with a pregnant woman, somewhere in the complex, and is surrounded by numerous hideous creatures, all dressed in cloaks. The pregnant woman's stomach is cut open with a knife by one of the creatures, who proceeds to rip out her fetus and collect the blood from the incision with a chalice. The creature then hands the chalice to a demonic figure (implied to be The Devil), and the other creatures proceed to rip off Casey's clothing. The demonic figure drinks the blood from the chalice, and it is heavily implied that the figure rapes Casey.

Sarah, unnerved, shuts off the tape and sends the kids to bed. Sarah checks up on Tia, who expresses how disturbed she is by the film, particularly Art's character. Sarah, attempting to comfort Tia, claims that Art won't be able to harm Tia so long as she doesn't finish watching the tape, and also claims that even if Art was able to harm her, she would not let him.

Curious about the tape's other content, Sarah decides to watch it further. The second film on the VHS tape displays a woman named Caroline, who has recently moved into a house by the countryside, unpacking the rest of her belongings. Caroline has a conversation on the phone with her friend, and talks about how her husband had recently made a disturbing painting of which he claims he doesn't remember making, as if he where in some sort of trance while painting it. She claims the painting features a horrible face that unnerves her to the point where she feels the need to cover it up with a drape. Afterwards, Caroline heads into the kitchen to fix herself a cup of coffee, when suddenly, the house's lights begin to flicker on and off. Caroline looks outside the windows and sees a blinding flash of light. The house's electricity then completely shuts off after the flash. Moments later, Caroline begins to hear noises coming from upstairs.

Concerned, Caroline attempts to call her husband, only to find out that the phone line isn't working. She then runs outside and attempts to flee by car, but finds that her car is unable to start. Panicked, Caroline runs back inside the house, and is confronted by alien creatures in masks. One of the aliens attempt to grab her, but Caroline is able to kick the creature off of her and flee upstairs. Caroline manages to fight off the aliens several different times, and later hides in a closet underneath the stairs. However, the aliens manage to locate her after her phone rings, and proceed to abduct her. Caroline screams out for her husband as she's being dragged away by the aliens, grabbing onto the painting her husband had made, and accidentally pulling off it's drape, revealing it to have actually been a disturbing painting of Art's face.

Sarah, disturbed by the film's content, takes a break from watching the tape. She then notices a figure lurking by the doorway out of her peripheral vision, and goes upstairs to investigate, under the assumption that the figure was either Tia or Timmy out of bed. The children deny that they were downstairs, and vent their frustrations about Sarah "creeping around the house and [their] bedrooms every 5 minutes". Sarah is surprised and bewildered by this, as she had been watching the film and couldn't have possibly been upstairs (It is later revealed that Art was the individual lurking around the house). Sarah argues with herself as to whether or not she should continue watching the tape, but ultimately decides to continue watching it.

The third, and final, film features a costume designer who is lost on the road and in need of gas. She stops at a gas station and honks her car's horn for help, but to no avail. After she gets out of her car to investigate, she sees a gas attendant angrily throwing Art out of the gas station because he had smeared his feces on the wall and urinated on the floor, much to Art's amusement. Art then ominously stares at the costume designer. The gas attendant forces Art to leave, threatening to call the police. Art finally leaves, smiling menacingly at the costume designer while doing so, unnerving her. The gas attendant fills up the costume designer's car and decides to make polite conversation. As she is asking for directions, they both hear a loud crashing noise (Which is really Art breaking into the gas station), and the gas attendant decides to investigate the cause, temporarily leaving the costume designer by herself.

After an extended period of time, the costume designer decides to check on the gas attendant. She enters a room in the gas station after hearing a noise coming from the room, where she finds that Art has brutally murdered and dismembered the gas attendant with a hacksaw. The costume designer flees to her car and drives away. Moments later, while on the road, she spots Art standing next to the road holding a sign that reads "circus", mocking her. The costume designer claims that it is impossible for him to have been able to follow her so quickly, and thus establishes with herself that she is dealing with some sort of supernatural entity. She foolishly pulls over to calm down, and Art attempts to attack her, but is unable to enter her car, as the doors are locked. The costume designer panics and drives off, eventually spotting a car on the side of the road. She pulls over next to the car and begs the driver for help. When she opens the door, she finds that the driver is horribly mutilated, and heads back on the road. Art, having entered the car unnoticed, attempts to suffocate the costume designer with a plastic bag. She hits the breaks and Art bashes his head on the dashboard, but appears unharmed. The costume designer seizes the opportunity to escape and takes shelter at a shed. She manages to barricade the door so that Art is unable to enter.

The costume designer stays in the shed, waiting for help, until Art bursts through the ground, apparently having dug a hole underneath the shed in order to get to her. Art then proceeds to repeatedly slash the costume designer with a crude cat o' nine tail. The costume designer eventually manages to gain the upperhand after stabbing Art in his eye and back with one of his knives, allowing her to escape. The costume designer then manages to hitch a ride from a concerned stranger. She explains to the driver that she's being followed by a man in a clown costume who has been attempting to kill her. Art then drives up next to them in a car and proceeds to shoot the driver in the face with a gun, and laughs maniacally. The car crashes into a tree, rendering the costume designer unconscious. She awakes in a boiler room and sees Art sadistically laughing and pointing at her, before discovering that her arms and legs have been removed and derogatory words have been carved into her body.

The film then appears to end, but after some static, Art appears again in the scene where he is butchering the gas attendant, but this time is looking directly at Sarah. Unnerved, Sarah turns the TV off, and hears the phone ring. When she answers, she hears the costume designer from the film hysterically stating that there is a man in a clown costume attempting to kill her (The exact same sentence she had stated to the driver in the film). Sarah, bewildered, hangs up the phone before the T.V suddenly turns back on, showing the same boiler room from the film. Art then steps into frame and proceeds to walk towards the camera and look directly at Sarah, waving, insinuating that he can see her. Sarah, terrified, desperately tries to shut off the T.V, but to no avail, and sees Art slowly walking towards her in a mirror. Sarah, panicked, destroys the videotape by slamming it on the ground, and Art's reflection is no longer seen in the mirror. Sarah is relieved, until she hears Tia scream and runs upstairs. There, she finds a blood-soaked Art laughing and pointing at her. She closes her eyes, and sees that Art has disappeared. Struck with fear, Sarah proceeds to open the door to Timmy and Tia's room, only to find their gravely mutilated bodies and decapitated heads laying on the bed. As Sarah begins to hysterically sob, the name "Art" can be viewed written in blood on the wall. It is unknown what happens to Sarah after the film's conclusion, but it is likely that she is framed for the children's murder.

Terrifier
Two young women, Tara and Dawn, have just left a Halloween party, with Dawn being very intoxicated. Tara suggests that they sober up at a local restaurant before driving home. There, they spot Art standing in the alley behind them, carrying a trash bag, and staring menacingly at the girls. Dawn drunkenly teases Art, under the pretense that he's apart of a Halloween prank. Art vanishes when they look back up at him, and the girls walk into a local pizza restaurant to order some food.

Art arrives at the restaurant, having apparently stalked the girls, and continuously stares at Tara while sitting in the next booth, unnerving her. Dawn makes light of the situation by taking selfies with Art, visibly agitating him. Eventually, Art is kicked out of the restaurant for smearing blood and feces all over the bathroom, writing his name “Art” on the wall. After Dawn and Tara leave, Art later returns and kills both restaurant workers, decapitating one (fashioning the severed head into a crude jack-o’-lantern) and stabbing the other multiple times in the face.

After the women discover that Dawn’s car has a flat tire and no spare, Tara calls her sister, Vicky, and asks her to drive them home. While they wait, Tara asks to be let into an old warehouse to use the building's restroom. Mike, an exterminator working in the building, reluctantly lets her in. After relieving herself, Tara investigates a noise and comes across a “cat lady”, who is apparently under the delusion that a doll she’s cradling in her arms is her child.

While Tara is in the warehouse, there is a police warning via broadcast on the radio in Dawn's car, informing that there has been a double murder at a local pizza restaurant, the killer described as a man in a black and white clown suit. Dawn, realizing that the suspect fits the description of the clown that had harassed her and Tara earlier, turns the radio up and is intently listening when Art enters the car and sedates a panicked Dawn with a syringe.

Eventually, Tara finds that she is locked in the warehouse and stumbles upon Art, grinning maliciously at her. Art then proceeds to chase her into a garage, where she hides from him under a couple of cars in the building's parking lot. He continues his search for her and seems to give up. She tries to escape quietly, but Art appears out of nowhere and stabs her in her Achilles tendon with a scapel. She is able to kick him off of her and manages to escape. Art begins chasing her throughout the building, until Tara finds Mike cleaning a hallway. Having been wounded in the leg, she limps towards him, begging for his help, however, he is unable to hear her as he is wearing headphones. Art finally locates Tara, and injects a sedative liquid into her neck with a syringe, sedating her before Mike can notice.

Tara wakes up tied to a chair, with Dawn, completely nude, hanging upside down from the ceiling in front of her. Art then appears, and uses a hacksaw to cut Dawn completely in half from her genitals to the middle of her body, and takes a selfie with her corpse (similarly as to what Dawn had done with him earlier at the pizzeria). With Art temporarily distracted, Tara escapes and beats him with a large wooden plank she finds nearby, appearing to gain the upper hand, until Art produces a gun and shoots her several times in the face. He then returns after acquiring more ammo, and kills Tara by shooting her in the head. The cat lady that Tara had met earlier witnesses this and flees, eventually managing to locate Mike and beg for his help, but to no avail, as Mike crudely dismisses her as insane. She eventually discovers her “baby” is missing, and seeks out Art. The woman finally manages to locate him in a hallway at the building's basement, holding her doll in his hands. She attempts to reason with him, and asks if he's ever felt a "mother's touch", before comforting Art by cradling him as he sucks on his thumb.

Art locates Mike having a conversation on the phone with his friend, Will, and renders him unconscious by hitting him over the head with a hammer. Vicky arrives at the building and is lured to the basement by Art, who is impersonating Dawn via text. She stumbles upon Art, who lures her towards him by disguising himself as an injured Tara (having scalped the cat lady and lacerated her chest, and wearing her hair and breasts as part of his disguise), before giving chase throughout the building. With Vicky cornered in a closet, Art turns his attention to Will, who's arrived at the building looking for Mike, and decapitates him. Vicky seizes the opportunity to escape, and is able to fight off Art several times, but finds herself paralyzed with grief upon finding Tara's mutilated corpse. Art then sneaks up behind Vicky and slashes her several times with an improvised cat o' nine tails, before Mike arrives and knocks him unconscious. Mike calls the police but is unwilling to stay at the building due to Vicky’s severe blood loss from her injuries, and while the pair attempt to escape, Mike is overpowered and killed by Art, who bashes his head in with his giant shoe, while Vicky manages to escape and lock herself in another room, to which Art cannot enter.

Vicky hides, but upon hearing sirens, she reveals herself, and Art rams her with a truck. The police arrive and witness Art eating Vicky’s face, and after a standoff, Art shoots himself in the head. The bodies are taken to the morgue, where Art reanimates and possibly kills the coroner.

A year after the events of the film, Vicky (who is heavily disfigured from having her face eaten by Art) is shown to have suffered severe psychological trauma from the ordeal, and is now mentally unstable. She is brought onto a news program to be interviewed by a journalist, where it is revealed that Art's body was never found at the morgue he was brought to. Later, the journalist makes fun of Vicky's disfigured appearance in the privacy of her dressing room, and Vicky, having eavesdropped on the conversation, gouges the journalist's eyes out, before laughing maniacally.