What was the thing on fire at the beginning of Smile 2?

I can’t find anything online. When Joel finally gets the nerve to get out of car to confront Russian guy, he walks across street and to his left, in the snow is an entity/figure on fire watching him and he glances at it, you can see his head turn a bit. Did anyone notice this and what the hell was it? Was it the demon waiting? Why? It’s driving me crazy!