Pricolici

 

The Pricolici is creature of Romanian origin. It is a kind of hybrid, part Werewolf and part Vampire. There's scant information about the Pricolici online aside from rumor as to its origin. It appears that a Pricolici is created when a Werewolf dies and rises from the dead. This seems a little convoluted, but Werewolves and Vampires actually share some of the same blood.

A Slavic Werewolf is called a Vǎrkolak, which refers to "one that has the hair of a wolf." This term arrived in Greece as the Vrykolakas and confusingly came to be associated with a Vampire-adjacent creature that consumes human livers. Years later, the popularity of Hollywood's Dracula complicated things even more, as the Vrykolakas was conflated with the modern blood-drinking Vampire. It is not hard to see a hybrid arising from a part of the world where two different creatures were commonly referred to by such similar names.

In Romania, the Vârcolac continues to be associated with Werewolves, while Vampir refers to... well you can probably guess. And then there is the Pricolici, occupying the gray zone between the the most famous creatures of the night. Like the Werewolf, the Pricolici sports hair, fangs and claws. Like the Vampire, it is undead, and must hunt at night.

Despite its prestigious horror pedigree, the Pricolici itself has seen little play in film or television. However, the general concept of a Werewolf-Vampire hybrid has been seen some screen time in the Underworld series. All in all, I'm really intrigued. I'd love to dig in a little deeper and see if I can find some Romanian folklore that further fleshes out this rather obscure beast.