Challengers, the new Luca Guadagnino film, aka the horny tennis blockbuster, is topping the box office with sexed-out psychodrama. And while much of it plays out in a luxurious, slow motion reverie, the film’s score is the ace. Composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross hit the perfect counterpoint with skittering synths and pulsing beats. Challengers OST is a wildly exhilarating disruptor, as suited to the club as it is the turf, bouncing between Italo disco and Techno. Two tracks in particular, Yeahx10 and Brutalizer, flex with the same Industrial muscularity Ross and Reznor offered on their breakout Nine Inch Nails album, Pretty Hate Machine. Compress/Repress sees Reznor returning to vocal duties; he chants the kind of tanked-up aerobic encouragement that recalls either Kraftwerk’s Tour de France or Barry’s Boot Camp. It makes everything seem possible – even exercise.
Photograph courtesy of Niko Tavernise/MGM