Let me begin by saying this: It's an obvious fact that Dario Argento kicks all kinds of ass. Seriously, between this, Demons, and Phenomena, you can't say he isn't a good producer/director/writer.
Susperia has a rather simple plot. Suzie is an American who enrolls in a German ballet school. The night of her arrival, she sees a girl running from the school into the woods and the woman at the door tells Suzie to leave.
After Suzie obliges to her hotel room, the girl in the woods returns, tells her roommate that she's been expelled, and heads to the bathroom to shower. However, something out the window catches her attention. A pair of disembodied eyes appears and an arm breaks through the glass and strangles her. When her roommate enters to see what's going down, she's dragged out the window and crashes through the stained-glass skylight in the lobby.
The next day, Suzie arrives at the school to find the police investigating the incident. The headmistress greets her and says she has no idea why she wasn't allowed inside the night before. Suzie starts class immediately thereafter. When she gets to the changing room, the other girls aren't too friendly with her, however she hits it off with a girl named Sara and the two become roommates. Suzie also meets a fellow named Mark, who has a thing for her. There's also a blind dude named Daniel who has a Seeing Eye dog and plays piano for the classes.
After a while, things start getting weird, as things usually do. Suzie passes out during a class, can't stay awake at night, and always goes right to sleep when she gets in bed. Maggots start falling from the ceiling. This inspires investigation on behalf of the headmistress who discovers a crate covered in maggots in the attic.
The girls are relocated to the gym for the night, due to the maggoty rain. Suzie and Sara find themselves separated by just a hanging sheet from the school founder, who respires strangely in the night.
As time passes, more incidents occur. Daniel's dog attacks the son of the school cook and as a result he is fired. While walking home that night, Daniel's dog mauls him and chews out his throat.
Sara becomes more and more suspicious about the school's staff. She begins investigating and comes to the conclusion that the staff are part of a dark coven. She also notices the teachers sneak off to a hidden room, by way of counting their steps during the night. Suzie, however, due to her constant exhaustion, is incapable of aiding her.
Sara decides to go find out for herself the nature of the teacher's activities. She notices someone following her and hides in the attic. However, the stalker has a knife and tries to cut through the lock. Sara finds a small window and climbs out, only to land in a room filled with barbed wire, of all things. She manages to struggle to the doorway, but the stalker finds her and murders her.
Suzie is informed by the headmistress that Sara has run away, but, when she calls Sara's father, he tells her that she didn't return home. Suzie begins to believe Sara was killed and goes about investigating.
She meets an expert on the occult who tells her about an infamous witch, Helena Marcos. Helena was persecuted and driven from every place she lived, until she came to Germany. There, she started a school for witchcraft and dance; the very same school in which Suzie is currently enrolled. However, Helena disappeared soon after and the school dropped the witchcraft curriculum. She confesses her suspicion and learns that, in order to eliminate the coven entirely, she must kill its leader (the old 'Cut off the head and the body will follow' routine).
That night, the rest of the school is off at a ballet performance. Suzie wonders why she wasn't told about it and decides to use this time to investigate. By counting the steps the headmistress took to get to the secret room, Suzie makes her way to the headmistress' office. By using the information she heard earlier on from another girl, Suzie finds the opening to the secret room.
While there, she hears the headmistress telling the teachers to kill the "American bitch". Suzie fears for her life and hides behind a table. The strange butler of the school senses her presence and comes looking for her. Suzie, in trying to evade him, finds a door and enters. There, she sees the shadow of Helena Marcos behind a curtain.
Helena laughs and mocks Suzie, inviting her to try and kill her. Suzie grabs a poker from the fireplace and throws back the curtain on the bed. However, Helena isn't there. Suddenly, zombified Sara bursts through the door with a knife. Suzie manages to fend her off and, using the lighting in the room, she finds the invisible Helena and stabs her. As Helena dies, the other teachers writhe around in agony. Suzie flees when the school begins to crumble. As she exits the now flaming building, she laughs with relief.
Seriously, this is one of the best Italian horror movies out there, even if it's set in Germany.
On a side note, I saw Shock Treatment (which I'll be reviewing later) before seeing this, and every time I saw Ms. Harper (Suzie), I couldn't shake the image of Janet Majors, in my mind.
Sequels-of-Sorts: Inferno ; Mother of Tears: the Third Mother
