- This would explain why he not only had drawings of Art, but kept the newspaper articles detailing his crimes. He may have known who Art was, or possibly even was his friend, at some point in time, and upon hearing about his murder spree, believed that the guy in the clown suit could've been his old companion. He then studied the case in disbelief, and went crazy when he put the pieces together knowing someone he was close with was so evil. In retaliation, he may have confronted Art, which caused him to become even more far gone than his brain tumor otherwise would've made him and take his own life. This would make Ms. Shaw's anger over Jonathan having his sketchbook and her reluctance to believe he didn't vandalize the school understandable - she knows the family has a dark history.
- Perhaps we have a red herring on our hands. If there is a third movie, it has the potential to either go further down the supernatural route or continue down a grounded or ambiguous path (the latter of which Leone himself wants to pursue, though at the same time he also stressed the importance of Sienna in the coming story as well). With the possibility for things to get more outlandish, it's possible that it truly was fate itself that brought Sienna and Art together as rivals.
- It's a bit far-fetched but definitely not impossible. Mr. Shaw may have created the character of Art through his drawings and kept the sketches private from all but his family...but maybe it wasn't enough. It's possible that he actually became a killer and used the clown getup as a way to conceal his real identity, the prosthetic face being the biggest component. This would explain why he's extremely emotive and expressive despite being completely silent - he did this so no one would recognize him, and speaking would give away who he was. Assuming Art was an active killer before the events of the first film, he may have operated at night and stored his clothes away from the family somewhere outside the house during the day. The brain tumor may not have been the direct cause of his later abusive behavior, but rather caused his true self to come out - possibly as the result of having a split personality disorder, he may have genuinely wanted to be a good parent but knew eventually he'd lose his mind. His suicide may have actually been faked, as even in the real world people have successfully faked their deaths only to be caught not long after, and he resumed his killing spree getting lost in the Art persona permanently. Why did the pale girl give him a second wind after he shot himself? Because he knew that he couldn't fake his death twice and needed some aid to keep him going. That's why he was given new life - he wanted to go after his family, and the sword was given to Sienna because he knew she would need to defend herself if he ever became consumed by Art.
- Jossed by Damien Leone in the director's commentary.
- His exact cause of death was unstated for most of the movie, until Brooke mentions that he'd had a brain tumor, which caused him to become increasingly violent towards his family and eventually take his own life. His sketchbook also included drawings of each of the deaths from Terrifier, as well as Art himself, despite him having no way of knowing what they would have looked like at that time. It's entirely possible that this was due to influence from Art, and mistaken for/attributed to a tumor postmortem, based on a few key factors:
- Brooke mentions that Sienna was a key target of his rage, despite them having been close enough for him to create the Valkyrie character for her and gift her the Cool Sword. Depending on when this happened, either Art took down Mr. Shaw when it occurred to him that he'd soon have an adversary, or Mr. Shaw was aware of Art's influence and tried Fighting from the Inside to encourage Sienna to rise against him.
- This is not the first time Art has appeared to influence an artist—in the second short of All Hallows' Eve, the protagonist's husband paints a portrait of him, apparently in a trance-like state, after seeing Art's face in a nightmare. It's possible that the same happened to Mr. Shaw...and an eventual sequel will make the events of the previous film canon, showing that Art's influence has been around longer than we expected...
- According to an interview on the Boo Crew podcast, the original plan for the post-credit scene was to have the reborn Art appear out of Victoria's head, until it was scrapped for being too similar to Malignant. This concept could end up being Refitted for Sequel, (much like having an angel-warrior character battling Art was conceived in the early days of the character, then saved
for this movie), having it be revealed that Mr. Shaw's "tumor" was really an early attempt at Art's resurrection.
Bonus points if he's also wearing a bald cap and he actually has hair. More bonus points if he isn't even mute and is capable of speaking normally, and either has a very high pain tolerance or straight up can't feel pain and just pretends to as a performance (explaining why he doesn't make any sound even when he gets hurt).
The surname "Crane" could be a Meaningful Name as it can be a reference to a "tall, slender man" (like the bird) which happens to match Art's physique (even the audition for Art's role specifically asked for a tall, skinny actor), and even his nose is long and pointy like a bird's beak. Funnily enough, cranes also symbolize immortality in some cultures, and Art is basically immortal now thanks to the LPG.
Assuming the human host is Emily Crane's father—who himself was a circus performer/mime—Art could've adopted some of Mr. Crane's traits (without Crane himself actually being in control) like how the Core kept some of Marcy's traits after possessing her and becoming Darcy in Amphibia. This of course would mean Art forced Mr. Crane to kill his own daughter, and if the Cat Lady is Emily's mother, his ex-wife as well (and made him wear her body parts on top of that). Speaking of the Cat Lady/Mrs. Crane, perhaps Mr. Crane divorced her/pushed her away to protect her from Art after Emily's death, only for Art to manage to kill her anyway.
Bonus points if Mr. Crane is completely conscious and can sense everything happening to/around him while Art's in control, including feeling all the pain every time Art gets hurt. The LPG could've taken Emily's form to torment Crane even further, as if Art forcing him to kill his own family and many other people wasn't enough.
Since Damien Leone has confirmed that the Clown Cafe dream is capital-G God testing Sienna
, the nun telling people to feed the homeless man could've been God hinting to Sienna that she needs to save Mr. Crane (symbolized by the homeless man). This could also be why Art doesn't kill the nun and the homeless man, as Art quite literally can't kill God and the LPG doesn't want Crane dead.
If Art is permanently defeated by the end of the series, it will be via either Sienna exorcising him from Mr. Crane's body somehow, or Crane committing Heroic Suicide to end Art for good along with himself, possibly by setting himself on fire so that Art won't be able to regenerate (which would be ironic as Sienna's dad also burned to death).
While Terrifier's God is still morally better compared to the chaotic evil Little Pale Girl (who may or may not be Satan) and Art, he seems to be be prioritizing battling them over protecting individual humans. After fulfilling the tasks of drawing his visions and giving Sienna her sword, Mr. Shaw was no longer useful to God, hence the latter allowing the former to go insane and die. And if the nun and the homeless man in the Clown Cafe dream are actually symbolizing God and Mr. Crane/Emily's dad (if the WMG about Art possessing him is true), the nun yelling at people to feed the man instead of trying to feed him herself may be another hint at God's neglectful nature, pushing the responsibility of saving Mr. Crane onto Sienna.
The climax of Terrifier's overarching story could be Sienna and Mr. Crane rejecting their fates as the Chosen Ones of Heaven and Hell respectively and ultimately freeing themselves from both sides (e.g. God declaring that permanently killing Mr. Crane is the only way to "save" him and defeat Art, and Sienna figuring out a way to defeat Art without sacrificing Crane). Sienna rebelling against God may also be foreshadowed by her being depicted with black wings in her dad's sketch and her costume wings actually darkening over time from blood and dirt, making her reminiscent of a Fallen Angel, and one of the meanings of her surname Shaw being "wolf" (an animal often painted in a negative light in the Bible).
