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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FX_poster_1058.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Is it murder or is it TitleDrop?]]

->'''Rollie:''' In this hand is the ammo for the gun.\\
'''Rollie:''' And ''this'' is Krazy Glue. 1001 uses... now 1002.

''F/X: Murder by Illusion'' is a 1986 movie starring Creator/BryanBrown and Creator/BrianDennehy about a special effects designer who gets dragged into a criminal conspiracy.

Rollie Tyler (Brown) is hired by the F.B.I.'s witness protection program to use his special effects skills to [[FakingTheDead fake the death]] of notorious [[TheMafia mob boss]] Nicholas [=DeFranco=] (Creator/JerryOrbach). The F/X shoot [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes awry]], making it look like Rollie is responsible for [=DeFranco=]'s actual murder. As Tyler goes on the run, Detective Leo [=McCarthy=] (Dennehy) investigates the murder.

The movie was followed up in 1991 with ''F/X 2: The Deadly Art of Illusion'', in which Rollie, now retired from special effects, is asked by his girlfriend's ex-husband to help him catch a killer. When the ex-husband and killer are ''both'' killed by an unknown assailant, Rollie turns to former-detective turned PrivateInvestigator [=McCarthy=] to help him figure out why and bring the killer to justice.

The movies were adapted into ''Series/FXTheSeries'', which has its own page,

Not to be confused with Creator/{{FX|Networks}}, the Disney-owned cable channel, or Music/{{FX}}, the South Korean GirlGroup.

!!''F/X'' and ''F/X 2'' contain examples of:

* AlwaysABiggerFish: The plot of the sequel kicks in when a third party kills both the ex-husband of Rollie's girlfriend and the killer he was going to catch at the same time during a sting operation. Leading Rollie and [=McCarthy=] to try and catch him and his superiors.
* AutomobileOpening: used in the sequel as part of the FakeActionPrologue, with the camera following the car driven by the alien cyborg through the city before crashing it near a wino.
%% * AmoralAttorney
* TheCallsAreComingFromInsideTheHouse: A phone call is traced to the lobby of the same government building where the call is being taken. Turns out that two pay phones have been taped together earpiece-to-mouthpiece so tracing the call wouldn't work.
%%* CarChase
* CelebrityParadox: The ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' films exists in the film's universe, evidenced by the poster for the [[Film/RamboFirstBloodPartII second film]] in Rollie's apartment. Leo's actor Creator/BrianDennehy had played the BigBad of the [[Film/FirstBlood first film]].
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: [=DeFranco=]'s pacemaker in the first one. He worries that the transceiver used to trigger the blood-packs will interfere with it. At the end, he touches an electrified gate. Whoops!]]
* ChekhovsArmory: Any and all special effects equipment that is shown at one point in either movie ''will'' come in to play by the end for more than Rollie's work.
* ColdSniper: William Adams from the first film, who manages to shoot [[spoiler:Ellen.]]
%% * CowboyCop: Leo [=McCarthy=] is seen as this in his department.
* CreatorCameo: One of the effects artists being chewed out at the beginning of the sequel (specifically the one who sets off the cop car explosion too late) is played by an uncredited Eric Allard, the film's special effects supervisor and one of its second-unit directors.
%% * CrypticBackgroundReference: There are plenty of mentions of Rollie's past work.
* DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler:In the first film Ellen seems like a typical love interest and a sidekick, but is shot by a sniper 30 minutes in.]]
* DirtyCop: Main villain of the second film.
* EnhanceButton: Makes an appearance in the second film to spot the killer in the reflection of a mirror.
* GadgeteerGenius: Rollie, as per his job as an effects technician. The sequel ups this by having him work on a robotic clown named Bluey during his off time.
* GroinAttack: Rollie uses Bluey to pull one of these on his attacker on the sequel.
* EasterEgg: In the sequel, a couple of props shown in Rollie's apartment workshop are from earlier projects by Eric Allard and All Effects. These include a robot head from ''Film/ClassOf1999'' and a toy robot from a pre-''Advertising/EnergizerBunny'' Energizer commercial.
* FakeActionPrologue: Both movies open up with a shooting of a film.
** In the first movie, it's a crime thriller involving a mysterious trenchcoated man shooting up a fancy restaurant. The scene is performed successfully thanks to Rollie's work.
** For the second, a sci-fi alien movie inspired by ''Film/TheTerminator'' featuring an alien cyborg DisguisedInDrag is being filmed. The shoot ends in failure when the effects technician's explosion doesn't go off when it's supposed to. Things get further compounded when the "Quarter million dollar" animatronic prop used for the alien cyborg runs amok and threatens the safety of the gathered audience. Rollie jumps in to deactivate it, to the director's annoyance.
* FakingTheDead: The professed intent of Rollie's first job is to do this for [=DeFranco=] being put into witness protection. [[spoiler:It turns out to be a double bluff where Rollie is framed for the death of [=DeFranco=], but he was indeed only Faking The Dead]].
%%* FightScene
* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: When the first movie's BigBad brandishes a pistol at Rollie, Rollie shows him the bullets he took from the gun and the superglue he put on the gun's handle, gluing the useless gun to the villain's hands.
* JumpScare: Rollie has a latex movie monster set up to leap at his door while a recording of the monster's roar is played, whenever somebody comes in. An effective anti-intrusion method. In the second movie, he employs a remote-controlled clown lying in wait for anyone anticipating the monster!
* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: [=McCarthy=] finishes a "how to use a gun" lecture to a female cop with, "And this is how you 'cock the sucker'...in a manner of speaking, that is."
* LatexPerfection: Justified in that Rollie not only employs significant computer resources to generate a full 3-D image of the head, but he also generates the "mask" in strips so that it moves naturally with the face.
* LighterAndSofter: The PG-13 sequel is this to the R-rated original film, due to less profanity, gore and violence.
* {{MacGyvering}}: Rollie uses his special effects wizardry to survive a number of scrapes throughout the films.
* TheMafia: The Italian Mafia appear as villains in both movies.
* MasterOfDisguise: Rollie makes full use of his makeup skills to appear as different people, or to disguise other people as part of his plans.
* NumberedSequels: The second movie simply changes ''F/X'' to ''F/X 2'' to create the sequel name.
* PracticalEffects: The point of both films, with Rollie himself being an effects technician using his skills to help solve crimes. Also the case in a meta sense, with both films having notable, experienced effects technicians[[note]]Conrad 'Connie' Brink and ''Franchise/JamesBond'' vet John Steers for the first (with makeup effects by Carl Fullerton and the uncredited duo of John Caglione Jr. and Doug Drexler); Eric Allard and his team at All Effects for the sequel, with Allard also serving as one of the Second Unit directors[[/note]] doing the actual effects.
* SetAMookToKillAMook: In the climax of the first movie, Rollie deals with Mason's mooks by using special effects tricks to make them kill each other while trying to kill him (for instance, by making a reflection of himself appear to a mook who shoots at it and kills another mook who was standing behind it).
* ShowerScene: Used to lure out the killer in the second movie. it works a little too well, as the killer and the person used as bait are both taken out at the same time by a third party.
* SlashedThroat: Used to off the ex-husband and his killer in the second movie.
* SpecialEffectsEvolution: With the sequel, the film adds animatronics and robotics into the mix. Justified as the crew behind the film's effects were also responsible for the robotic effects in ''Film/ShortCircuit'' and ''Film/ClassOf1999'', with a skull from the latter being seen among Rollie's belongings as an EasterEgg.
* StagedShooting: What Rollie is hired for in the first movie, based on the success of one he helped execute for a movie.
* StuffBlowingUp: The opening prologue of the sequel starts off with a cop car failing to blow up on cue, only for the effects team to do so just after the director chews them out. Rollie more effectively uses this against his would-be assailant by jerry-rigging some hair spray and canned beans at a supermarket.
* SuicideByCop: [[spoiler: How Rollie deals with [[BigBad Colonel Mason]] in the first movie. He tricks him into grabbing an unloaded Uzi covered in Krazy Glue (see the quotes at the top of the page) and forces Mason into a confrontation with the police, where he is quickly shot dead after 'refusing' to drop his gun.]]
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