Lynn Blodgett, an artist with coulrophobia, has a nightmare in which she is a young girl and encounters a clown with a decomposing face after a car crash at a carnival.

Lynn's nightmares have been getting worse since she filed for divorce from her husband, Doctor Bert Tokyo, who hit her upon getting the news, and is fighting for full custody of their son, Nicholas.

At a gallery exhibiting her work, most of which involves monstrous clowns, Lynn meets Tucker Reid, a roller coaster tycoon who purchases one of her paintings for $8000.

As Shivers pursues Lynn and Tuck, Detective Peters races to the theatre, having gotten an alert about a 911 call from it, and news that the DNA under Amanda's fingernails matches Doug.

Shivers uses Nicholas to lure Lynn out, and as the clown is about to kill her, Tuck blinds him from a projectionist booth, incapacitating him long enough for Peters and other officers to arrive, and arrest him.

[3] Dread Central's Steve Barton felt Lassise's Shivers the Clown was "the most memorable murderer—in years", while noting the weak story, and lack of interesting characters.

[4] Andre Manseau of Joblo's Arrow in the Head criticized the film for its thin and poorly written characters, which he felt ruined an otherwise interesting concept and admittedly creepy clown design.

On the character, the author would said "Shivers himself is an undeniably creepy figure whose asymmetrical grin hints at the diseased mind lurking beneath the makeup".