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Released
1986 · FILM

F/X

A masterful special‑effects wizard is hired to fake a mobster’s murder, but when the government agency that recruited him turns on him, he must use his cinematic tricks to outwit both the gangster and corrupt operatives before they silence him for good.

“Murder by illusion.”

Directed by
Robert Mandel
Written by
Robert T Megginson, Gregory Fleeman
Runtime
109 min
ActionThriller

Synopsis

A special effects expert is hired by a government agency to assist in staging the assassination of a prominent gangster. When the agency betrays him, he uses his expertise in special effects to trap both the gangster and the corrupt agents.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Production Designer
Director of Photography
Writers
Director

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 20

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Terry RawlingsShot by Miroslav OndricekScored by Bill ContiDesigned by Mel Bourne

Box Office

1986 · Box office

⚖️ Fell short of break-even — grossed 2.1× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$20.6M

Budget$10.0M
Worldwide gross$20.6M
break-even (2.5×)

Opening weekend: $3.2M — 16% of its US run.

Opening week (7-day): $4.2M — 21% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 914 theaters

Also known as

  • F/X - Tödliche Tricksde
  • F/X - Murder by Illusionen
  • F/X, effets de chocfr
  • F/X - Effetto mortaleit

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