Teaching children to play in harmony is not simple. Parents know the challenge, and as evidenced in Ashleigh Nankivell’s “Helping Johnny Remember,” mothers and fathers raising children in the 1960s knew this as well. But what transpires in Nankivell’s remix of this once harmless public service announcement, originally designed to warn children about the dangers of selfishness and social exclusion, is more reminiscent of a scene cut from the Twilight Zone than a film intended for educational purposes. It’s a masterfully crafted visual creepout, set to the music of Good Old Neon.
