Alpha, the genre-bending third feature from Palme d'Or winner Julia Ducournau (Raw, Titane), finally has a release date, with NEON announcing today that the body horror drama will be released in theaters on March 27, 2026.
Starring Mélissa Boros, Tahar Rahim (The Serpent, The Mauritanian), Golshifteh Farahani (The Patience Stone, Extraction) and Emma Mackey (Sex Education, Emma), Alpha follows the titular, troubled 13-year-old who lives with her single mom whose world collapses the day she returns from school with a tattoo on her arm while a mysterious virus is plaguing society.
Billed as Ducournau's most personal film yet, Alpha is influenced by the director's experience growing up during the AIDS epidemic of the '80s and '90s:
ALPHA wants to get under your skin, viscerally recreating the social panic and paranoia that spreads during a pandemic and the irrational stigma that can attach to illness. But more than that, it is about trauma and memory and the complex relationship between the sensing body and the thinking mind. How do we react when our close personal and familial relationships are disrupted by more primal reactions to addiction and illness. How do we process the unthinking mechanics of our biology or the indifferent progress of a virus when it causes damage to the ones we love.
Previously, NEON announced that Alpha would be in theaters in fall of this year, although the reason for the delay is unknown. Possibly, it could be due to Alpha‘s divisive reception at Cannes, but if us horror fans know anything, it's that critics don't always get it right. Trust us when we say this isn't one you want to miss.
