Chris Cleek



Christopher "Chris" Cleek is the main antagonist of the novel The Woman, by Jack Ketchum, and its film adaptation.

The Woman
Cleek was a country lawyer who, while out hunting in the woods, encountered the titular feral woman, thus becoming smitten by her. He later returned to the woods that day, and he kidnaps and traps the woman in his fruit cellar. When the woman bit the tip of his index finger off, he violently beat her, and decided that he would civilize her. He appoints his family to help him with his experiment, but in reality, Cleek really only wants to freely molest and dominate the woman under the guise of civilizing her. The novel goes further by revealing that Cleek was actually a misogynist as well as a domestic abuser who took great pleasure in dominating his wife Belle, as well as in torturing the feral woman through such means such as dosing the woman in boiling water, and using a high pressure power washer on her as a means of trying to reestablish his dominance over her. Not only this, but it's revealed that Peggy was pregnant with his baby, which resulted from him raping her each night. The film subtly alludes to this when Chris places a candle by Peggy in a similar fashion to the feral woman.