Bruno Fazzolari Room 237

by: Jodi Battershell

"Heeere's Johnny!"

Stanley Kubrick's enduring classic horror film, The Shining, was based on a popular novel of the same name by Stephen King, but featured significant variations from the novel's plot and characters. First released in 1980 to mixed reviews and mediocre box office results, the film itself has grown in status (and legend) over the years. Currently ranked as #58 in the Internet Movie Database's list of Top 250 Films and in the Top Ten of many esteemed critics and film directors, few today would argue its status as a horror masterpiece or deny its importance in popular culture, the image and quote above being oft-cited examples.

The film continues to inspire discussion and debate, as well as garnering new fans and scaring new generations. In 2012, a documentary film exploring various cultural and historical interpretations of the movie was released. That film, Room 237, took its title from the room in the Overlook Hotel where many of the film's pivotal (and most frightening) moments take place. The room number itself is one of the changes made for the film—the room number where the events took place in the novel was actually 217. That the number of the hotel room in the film (not the novel) has inpsired both a documentary and now a perfume is perhaps testament to the enduring power of Kubrick's amazing work.

[My goodness! Is it obvious yet that I'm a huge fan of this film? Just watching that trailer below gives me goosebumps, in the best possible way.—jb]

Artist and perfumer Bruno Fazzolari has created previous fragrances inspired by his own artwork (Lampblack, Five, Monserrat) as well as the work of other artists (Au Dela, Jimmy). It seems wholly appropriate that Fazzolari has created a new perfume, Room 237, as an homage to Stanley Kubrick’s film, "where the spotlessly clean, pastel green bathroom of the titular room shelters an unspeakable evil."
 

Room 237 main notes: Grand hotel soap Flea bane Angelica Peculiar florals Oppoponax Costus root Vinyl shower curtain

The notes of the perfume give a nice hint as to what happens in Room 237, without being too much of a spoiler for someone who hasn't seen the film.

Described as a "challenging, yet wearable perfume," the fragrance is built on an off-kilter accord of camphorous greeen notes, peculiar florals, steam, soap and plastic, for an effect that is initially unsettling but is soon balanced by a musky warmth in the base. "The truth is that this is not going to be for everyone but I think it’s a scent that the more devoted fragrance fans will appreciate and get a kick out of," notes Fazzolari.

Room 237 is available in 30 ml spray bottles and 1.5 ml sample vials from the official website of Bruno Fazzolari.