If there’s one thing I’ll take away from this movie, it’s definitely how it’s a great example of crowd psychology in effect. How a single individual could influence a crowd into believing and acting beyond their normal values.

There’s a specific scene where the protagonists’s group — against all odds, mind you — managed to fight their way out of the zombie-infested train cars and reach the train car with the remaining survivors. To their shock, the survivors on the train car blocked their entrance because they feared that the zombies would break in. The protagonists pleaded and begged to be let in to no avail. Left with no choice, they tore down the door and forcibly made their way in despite being forcefully pushed back by the other survivors.

After the protagonist’s group were safe and sound, they realized that the other survivors were angry at what they did. They made the protagonists move to another train car as some sort of punishment, and the movie audience was made to feel the protagonist group’s selfishness and callousness in almost letting other people die for their own safety.

Personally, I think the original survivors in the train car definitely were in the wrong. But giving the situation some further thought, I can’t help but wonder what my reaction would be if I were in the same situation.

Imagine I’m scared for my life. I don’t know what’s happening on the other side of the train car except there’s a bunch of zombies in there that will kill me and my companions. Some other group are asking to be let in at the risk of everyone else. They say they can make it and nobody’s been bitten but what do I know right? I like to think I’ll be the cool-headed and understanding passenger who tries to calm everyone down. But of course, that thought came to me while I was safely sitting in the movie seat.

I guess my point is, fear makes us all do stupid and inhumane choices. I’m not saying they were correct in refusing the others join up with them, it’s just they didn’t have all the facts and they made a decision while they were scared and distraught.

Even the despicable CEO is a good example of this. Near the end of the movie, he betrays a great number of people in order to survive but gets bitten and infected anyway. His last request was to be taken home to his mother because he was scared. That really made an impression to me. Here’s this bossy, arrogant, insufferable, and sorry excuse of a man reduced to begging to see his mom again. Stripped down to his most basic core, he was just a scared little boy.