"Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria Parker will star in writer-director Franc. Reyes’ supernatural horror film "Tenement," reports Production Weekly.
The story follows five potential buyers who lose more than they bargained for when they attend an open house in a haunted tenement building in the Bronx. Reyes has described the film as a fusion of "The Exorcist," "The Amityville Horror" and "Rosemary’s Baby."
Longoria Parker has tried several times to transition from a TV star to a movie star, but she hasn’t had much luck with her choice of projects, which include "Harsh Times," "The Sentinel," "Over Her Dead Body," "Lower Learning" and a bit part in the Farrelly brothers’ remake of "The Heartbreak Kid." The question is whether "Tenement" will do for Longoria Parker what "The Ring" did for Naomi Watts, or what "Dark Water" did for Jennifer Connelly, which was essentially nothing besides make the Oscar-winning actress look bad.
Alumbra Films principal Reyes began his career as a dancer/choreographer before making his Hollywood debut with 2002’s "Empire." His last film, "The Ministers," starred John Leguizamo and Harvey Keitel, and he also directed the underrated Rick Gonzalez-Wanda De Jesus film "Illegal Tender."
Longoria Parker next appears in Everardo Valerio Gout’s Spanish-language kidnapping thriller "Dias de gracia (Days of Grace)."
Filming on "Tenement" is scheduled to begin next month in New York.
