Attack of the Crab Monsters is a 1957 independently made American black-and-white science fiction-horror film, produced and directed by Roger Corman (via his Los Altos Productions), that stars Richard Garland, Pamela Duncan, and Russell Johnson.

Unknown to them when they arrive, the island is inhabited by a pair of radiation-mutated giant crabs that not only consumed the members of the first expedition, but absorbed their minds, and now plan to reproduce their kind in numbers.

They are searching for a previous expedition that disappeared without a trace, and to continue research on the effects of radiation from the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests on the island's plant and sea life.

The scientists, led by Dr. Karl Weigand, include geologist James Carson and biologists Jules Deveroux, Martha Hunter, and Dale Drewer.

Two sailors are left behind to guard the explorers, while the others, led by Ensign Quinlan, attempt to return to the mainland, but their seaplane inexplicably explodes.

The current expedition learns to their horror that the earlier group had been killed and eaten by two mutated, intelligent giant crabs, who have absorbed the minds of their victims and can speak telepathically in their voices.

Members of the current expedition are being systematically attacked and killed by the monsters, which are now invulnerable to most standard weaponry because of their cell structure mutations.

They are able to kill one of the giant crabs in a cave when their placed explosive detonates, shaking loose an overhead rock that crushes the head of the monster.

As the island continues to fall away into the Pacific, and after barely escaping from their collapsing laboratory building, the surviving trio of Dale, Martha, and Hank finally meet the remaining intelligent giant crab, Hoolar, who speaks to them via telepathy.

Hoolar vows to go to the mainland with her fertilized eggs when the island is gone (and the three humans are dead) to feed upon even more people, absorbing those minds in the process.

Hank then sacrifices himself by bringing down an electrically-charged broadcast tower directly on top of the giant crab, electrocuting the monster and her unhatched brood.

Griffith later described the scripting process:"Roger came to me and said, 'I want to make a picture called Attack of the Giant Crabs and I asked, 'Does it have to be atomic radiation?'

Earning an estimated $1 million,[3] Attack of the Crab Monsters was Corman's most profitable production up to that time, which he attributed to the "wildness of the title," the construction of the storyline,[3] the structuring of every scene for horror and suspense, and editing for pace.

[10] Film reviewer Glenn Erickson, writing retrospectively in DVD Savant, noted that for Corman, Attack of the Crab Monsters was "... (a) more ambitious production, it covers the methodical destruction and inundation of an entire island – all of which occurs off-screen.