Krabi ("The Crabs") is a 1976 animated Science Fiction short film by Czechlslovakian animator Václav Mergl. It's an adaptation of the 1958 short story "Crabs on the Island" by Anatoly Dneprov.
Dr. Cookling, a military scientist, travels to a deserted island with a soldier named Bud as his assistant, and one purpose in mind: to build an army of self-replicating mechanical crabs and set them against each other, forcing the machines to evolve and one-up one another until a single ultimate weapon is left. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? A lot, it turns out.
Tropes:
- Autocannibalism: With no other metal left on the island, the giant crab resorts to eating its own legs, until finally it self-destructs and falls apart.
- Book Ends: The film begins and ends with a panning shot over the Deserted Island where the story takes place.
- Giant Enemy Crab: The final machine takes the form of a massive robot crab.
- Giving Them the Strip: In a variant, Bud strips off his uniform and boots and lets the giant crab eat the metal fasteners.
- Lightning Can Do Anything: A freak bolt of lightning reactivates the giant crab, with disastrous consequences.
- Mad Scientist: Given that Cookling chuckles as the machines tear each other apart, and then dreams with apparent delight of them overrunning enemy cities, it's safe to say he's not a nice person.
- Mechanical Evolution: Cookling's crabs grow bigger, with various weapons and other means of defense, as they devour one another.
- Metal Muncher: Cookling's crabs eat metal and then use it to build more of themselves.
- Mime and Music-Only Cartoon: There's no dialogue, aside from some Evil Laughter from Cookling.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Bud manages to escape the island on a rubber raft after the giant crab kills Cookling.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Gentle classical music accompanies Cookling's terrifying dream of his robot crabs overrunning the cities and armies of his country's enemies.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Cookling is killed by the giant crab after it eats his remote control and then rips out the metal fillings in his teeth.
