Barrington native stars in an organ-selling opera

Bill Moseley almost sounded bummed out that he only knocks off a couple of people in his new movie "Repo! The Genetic Opera."

"I stab one person to death for getting blood on me," Moseley told me by phone from his Los Angeles home. "I stab another man to death for handing me decaf instead of a regular cup of coffee. Why not?"

Low body counts are a rare thing for Moseley, who wanted to star in some of the most infamous horror films ever made: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Night of the Living Dead" and "Evil Dead." But since they were already made, he acted in their sequels and remakes.

Moseley can be seen in 1990's remake of "Night of the Living Dead" as Johnny, 1992's "Army of Darkness" (aka "Evil Dead 3") as a Deadite Captain, and in 1986's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" in his most famous role as Choptop, an insane hammer killer with a plate in his skull.

Not your typical career trajectory for a Northwest suburban kid who graduated from Barrington High School.

Moseley's new movie "Repo! The Genetic Opera" really is an opera with 50-plus songs. It plays only Friday and Saturday at midnight at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave, Chicago. (Go to musicboxtheatre.com for details.)

His role as Luigi Largo required Moseley to sing and dance, something he hadn't done since his days as a student at Yale University's theater department.

"It was daunting, I've got to tell you," Moseley said. "It required me to fall back on a whole new skill set than hitting people over the head with a claw hammer. Fortunately, I've been doing music with (rock group) Buckethead. I've been taking singing lessons now for 12 or 13 years. Every Wednesday I'd go to the valley and meet with my voice instructor and sing Beatles songs. That paid off!"

In "Repo!," Moseley plays Luigi, son of Rotti Largo, the head of GeneCo, a powerful company that sells body parts to people who need them - and who can afford them. However, if customers fail to keep up their payments, GeneCo's repo men go to work to recover their merchandise. Talk about costing an arm and leg.

"I was prepared for the audition," Moseley said. "I went to the sound studio where they were auditioning. I followed one of the Pussy Cat Dolls who mercifully was there for another part. I belted out my song well enough to be given the role."

Moseley, now 57, has played psychos and nut jobs in some of the most outrageous horror films made. But he has a secret to portraying them so well.

"I'm happiest when I'm playing a character who really loves what he's doing," he said. "My favorite characters are the ones who are happy at their work, no matter what it is."