Since the premise of a mysterious killer picking off victims has existed since the dawn of horror stories, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the now-familiar slasher came from. Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None is one of the earliest examples. The stage adaptation even tweaked the ending to include a showdown between the final girl and the killer (mainly because the book’s written confession ending wouldn’t translate well to theater).

RELATED: Halloween (1978): 5 Ways It's The Greatest Slasher Ever Made (& Its 5 Closest Contenders)

The modern Hollywood slasher as audiences understand it today, tropes and all, can arguably be traced back to John Carpenter’s seminal 1978 masterpiece Halloween. Carpenter’s low-budget innovations and simplistic narrative framework made it the ideal template for a new horror subgenre, but there are earlier movies that could be categorized as slashers and later movies contributed to the foundation of the modern slasher.

Halloween (1978)

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode being terrorized by Michael Myers in Halloween 1978

Jamie Lee Curtis joined her mother Janet Leigh in the pantheon of iconic scream queens with her unforgettable portrayal of butt-kicking babysitter Laurie Strode in John Carpenter’s Halloween. And her opponent Michael Myers, also known as “The Shape,” a hulking escaped mental patient in a boilersuit and a William Shatner mask who kills without remorse and seemingly can’t be stopped, is the ultimate horror movie villain.

Carpenter’s perfectly paced slash-‘em-up created a bunch of tropes that are now familiar to fans of the genre: sex equals death, franchise-able villain, the final girl defeats the killer.

Friday The 13th (1980)

Pamela Voorhees with a knife in Friday the 13th

Although Friday the 13th was blatantly made to cash in on the success of Halloween, it did provide a few fresh twists on the familiar template of a slasher (which wasn’t quite familiar to audiences yet).

For starters, it shockingly reveals that the killer is Mrs. Voorhees, not Jason. This is essentially the opposite of Psycho’s twist: the audience is led to believe the son is the killer when it’s really the mother.

Black Christmas (1974)

Olivia Hussey as Jess Bradford on the phone in Black Christmas 1974

Four years before John Carpenter would apply the slasher formula to the most obvious holiday, Black Christmas combined yuletide cheer with blood-soaked terror.

This movie subverted the “sex equals death” trope of slashers before it even existed. Its use of abortion as a major plot point just a few years after the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision was groundbreaking.

A Bay Of Blood (1971)

Someone peering through window blinds in A Bay Of Blood

Widely considered to be horror legend Mario Bava’s most violent movie, A Bay of Blood tells a simple enough story about a series of murders in a bay.

The killings are depicted in big, flashy set pieces, which would go on to greatly influence the foundations of the slasher. Carlo Rambaldi’s gruesome makeup effects still hold up today.

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

Freddy in a dream in A Nightmare on Elm Street

Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, revolving around a group of teenagers contending with a knife-fingered monster terrorizing them in their dreams, added a supernatural element to the slasher genre.

It also introduced the rug-pull cliffhanger ending that leaves the door open for sequels, which was enforced on Wes Craven by the producers who understandably saw franchise potential in Freddy.

Peeping Tom (1960)

Mark Lewis and his camera in Peeping Tom (1960)

This movie was hugely controversial upon its initial release — so controversial, in fact, that it impacted director Michael Powell’s ability to get work — but it’s since been recognized as a groundbreaking horror masterpiece.

RELATED: 10 Must-See Horror Movies From The '60s

Combining a typical slasher setup with Hitchcockian voyeurism, Peeping Tom revolves around a serial killer who preys on women and documents his crimes on a portable film camera and then watches the footage afterward.

My Bloody Valentine (1981)

Sylvia about to die in My Bloody Valentine

George Mihalka’s My Bloody Valentine revolves around a group of youths throwing a Valentine’s Day party that gets crashed by a vengeful murderer dressed in mining gear.

This movie is notable for pushing the boundaries of violence and gore in slasher movies. It ended up having nine minutes removed by the MPAA just to secure a theatrical release.

Blood And Black Lace (1964)

A woman standing in a dark, Gothic room in Blood And Black Lace (1964)

Another hugely influential effort by Mario Bava, Blood and Black Lace follows a masked killer’s attempts to get a hold of a scandalous diary.

The killer is dressed in a white, featureless mask with a black fedora and a trenchcoat. This instantly recognizable aesthetic would go on to influence the distinctively dressed rogue’s gallery of slasher cinema, from Jason Voorhees’ hockey mask to Freddy Krueger’s knife glove.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Leatherface holding chainsaw over his head in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Tobe Hooper’s taut horror masterpiece The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has been declared the ultimate pro-vegetarian movie because the director draws parallels between Leatherface’s cannibalistic crusade against Sally Hardesty and her friends and the meat industry Sally’s family has spent years profiting from.

RELATED: 10 Must-See Horror Movies From The '70s

While the sequels have devolved into blood-soaked torture porn, the 1974 original is surprisingly bloodless in retrospect. The implied off-screen violence is much more effective than excessive portrayals of beatings and mutilations.

Psycho (1960)

Shower scene in Psycho

There’s a school of thought that Psycho doesn’t really classify as a slasher, but Alfred Hitchcock’s massively influential 1960 thriller masterpiece has all the components of a great slasher: an unforgettable villain, a cast of likable heroes he picks off one by one, and a couple of mind-boggling plot twists.

The shower murder at the midpoint still has the ability to shock, despite its reputation as one of the most recognizable and commonly parodied moments in film history.

NEXT: Death Proof & 9 Other Slashers That Mix In A Different Genre