John Laing

Directing

John Laing

Place of birth

New Zealand

Known for

Directing

Credits

18 titles

John Laing is a director, producer, editor and writer from New Zealand. He directed his first feature film Beyond Reasonable Doubt in 1980. He has worked in both television and movies in New Zealand as well as in the United Kingdom and Canada.

Known for

Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior poster
6.2

It is the story of an average, popular American teenager named Wendy Wu who discovers that in order to win the coveted crown she must first learn the way of the warrior. Wendy Wu has a one track mind, and that track leads directly to the title of homecoming queen -- no unscheduled stops, and no unnecessary detours. When a mysterious Chinese monk named Shen arrives to mold Wendy into a fearless kung fu warrior, however, her royal aspirations suddenly jump the track as she desperately attempts to juggle her boyfriend, her homework, and of course, the fierce competition to become homecoming queen. Now, as Wendy begins to train her mind, body, and spirit in the ancient tradition of the martial arts and her inner warrior gradually begins to emerge, the girl who once obsessed over popularity finally begins to put that popularity into perspective as she gradually realizes what truly matters in life.

Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior

2006

Abandoned poster
5.9

In 1989 the trimaran Rose Noelle set sail from Picton, New Zealand, bound for Tonga with four crew. After a freak wave capsized the yacht, they drifted for 119 days before landing on Great Barrier Island.

Abandoned

2016

Greenstone poster
9.0

A majestic tale of drama, love, mystery and the clashing of cultures in early 1800's New Zealand.

Greenstone

1999

No One Can Hear You poster
5.4

Families are dying and reporter Trish (Kelly McGillis) finds herself reporting on a serial killing spree. After her daughter Lisa's (Kate Elliott) best friends are killed, she fears that her family may be on the killers list. Sheriff Webster (Barry Corbin) is not listening to her concerns, which leads Trish to wonder is he or his deputy might be involved. Then Lisa, her boyfriend Ben and her sister Amy receive threats.

No One Can Hear You

2001

Outrageous Fortune: The Movie poster
NR

It's Christmas 2006. Wolf's in prison to stay, Judd's in prison and trying to get out. The family is going to Tutaekuri Bay, where they go to every year — only some things have changed. Who is that in "their" spot? Who put a gate up stopping access to "their" beach? Who will win the bet on when Pascalle will give it up? And why do they always come here in the first place?

Outrageous Fortune: The Movie

2006

Other Halves poster
7.7

A Polynesian street-kid and a much older middle-class housewife are both incarcerated in the same mental hospital - she for attempted suicide and he for habitual crime. A friendship grows between them such that she offers him a place to stay upon his release. However, difficulties arise with his continued criminal activities and dependence on her for support - then his gang moves in with them. The film is based upon Sue McCauley's award winning autobiographical novel.

Other Halves

1984

Behind the camera

Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior poster
6.2

It is the story of an average, popular American teenager named Wendy Wu who discovers that in order to win the coveted crown she must first learn the way of the warrior. Wendy Wu has a one track mind, and that track leads directly to the title of homecoming queen -- no unscheduled stops, and no unnecessary detours. When a mysterious Chinese monk named Shen arrives to mold Wendy into a fearless kung fu warrior, however, her royal aspirations suddenly jump the track as she desperately attempts to juggle her boyfriend, her homework, and of course, the fierce competition to become homecoming queen. Now, as Wendy begins to train her mind, body, and spirit in the ancient tradition of the martial arts and her inner warrior gradually begins to emerge, the girl who once obsessed over popularity finally begins to put that popularity into perspective as she gradually realizes what truly matters in life.

Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior

2006

Abandoned poster
5.9

In 1989 the trimaran Rose Noelle set sail from Picton, New Zealand, bound for Tonga with four crew. After a freak wave capsized the yacht, they drifted for 119 days before landing on Great Barrier Island.

Abandoned

2016

Greenstone poster
9.0

A majestic tale of drama, love, mystery and the clashing of cultures in early 1800's New Zealand.

Greenstone

1999

No One Can Hear You poster
5.4

Families are dying and reporter Trish (Kelly McGillis) finds herself reporting on a serial killing spree. After her daughter Lisa's (Kate Elliott) best friends are killed, she fears that her family may be on the killers list. Sheriff Webster (Barry Corbin) is not listening to her concerns, which leads Trish to wonder is he or his deputy might be involved. Then Lisa, her boyfriend Ben and her sister Amy receive threats.

No One Can Hear You

2001

No One Can Hear You poster
5.4

Families are dying and reporter Trish (Kelly McGillis) finds herself reporting on a serial killing spree. After her daughter Lisa's (Kate Elliott) best friends are killed, she fears that her family may be on the killers list. Sheriff Webster (Barry Corbin) is not listening to her concerns, which leads Trish to wonder is he or his deputy might be involved. Then Lisa, her boyfriend Ben and her sister Amy receive threats.

No One Can Hear You

2001

Outrageous Fortune: The Movie poster
NR

It's Christmas 2006. Wolf's in prison to stay, Judd's in prison and trying to get out. The family is going to Tutaekuri Bay, where they go to every year — only some things have changed. Who is that in "their" spot? Who put a gate up stopping access to "their" beach? Who will win the bet on when Pascalle will give it up? And why do they always come here in the first place?

Outrageous Fortune: The Movie

2006

Other Halves poster
7.7

A Polynesian street-kid and a much older middle-class housewife are both incarcerated in the same mental hospital - she for attempted suicide and he for habitual crime. A friendship grows between them such that she offers him a place to stay upon his release. However, difficulties arise with his continued criminal activities and dependence on her for support - then his gang moves in with them. The film is based upon Sue McCauley's award winning autobiographical novel.

Other Halves

1984

A War Story poster
NR

In 1997, Osama bin Laden declared war on the USA and Pulitzer Prize winning CNN correspondent Peter Arnett embarked on a mission to locate and interview him. A War Story follows the dramatic events leading up to the interview and the Kiwi journalist's horror on 9/11, as he recalled bin Laden's veiled threats.

A War Story

2018

Power Rangers S.P.D.: Zapped poster
6.6

The pace quickens when the academy receives a message from the future warning of impending doom. It seems that Devastation (the most wanted criminal in the galaxy) along with brother, Shorty, and sinister sidekick Morgana have returned to conquer Earth for imminent destruction. It's an SPD Emergency as the team of elite warriors morph into their superhuman multi-hued spandex to take on intergalactic minions. Just when the fury circle is tightening, a mysterious Force from the Future materializes, riding a giant Omegamax Cycle.

Power Rangers S.P.D.: Zapped

2005

Beyond Reasonable Doubt poster
6.7

A docu-drama covering one of the most famous cases in New Zealand history, the murder of Harvey and Jeanette Crewe in 1970.

Beyond Reasonable Doubt

1980

Absent Without Leave poster
8.0

In 1942 Wellington, Daisy Edwards, 16 and pregnant, relies totally on her just-wed husband, Ed, who is little older than she. Ed is suddenly drafted into the army and is to be sent overseas to battle while Daisy is sent to her father in Auckland. When Ed's leave is cancelled at the last minute he takes the dangerous decision to go absent without leave to be with Daisy on her journey home. As a deserter, Ed is hunted, captured and imprisoned. Life inside is bad enought without the worry of what is going on outside. The film is based upon a true story.

Absent Without Leave

1993

Venus and Mars poster
NR

When an attack on a Palmerston North fraud detective made headlines in October 1996, the New Zealand public followed the media reports with fascination. They read like a plot of a Hollywood film or detective novel. Poison pen letters, satanic worship, a police hate crime, and a mysterious and violent pyromaniac. But little did the public know that as the truth emerged, the story was going to get far more bizarre, and the police would turn the focus of their investigation on one of their own.

Venus and Mars

2015

The Lost Tribe poster
4.0

Anthropologist Max Scarry mysteriously disappears while doing excavation/research of a lost New Zealand tribe on a remote island. His wife and his twin brother Edward are clueless as to what could have happened, a situation complicated by their city's police suspecting that one of the brothers murdered a local prostitute who was found with a strange tribal charm on her body matching one found in Max's abandoned hut. What most certainly isn't helping matters is the strange behavior of Max's daughter as she seems to have visions beyond possibility, warnings of a supernatural threat and her uncle's fate - and she's the film's narrator, to boot. Edward decides to go to the island to find out exactly what happened, but the deeper he goes into the mystery the more perilous and unknowable his world becomes, leading towards a shocking fate that raises more questions than it answers. (cont. http://view-from-the-paperhouse.blogspot.de/2014/10/the-threat-of-ancient-echoes-lost-tribe.html)

The Lost Tribe

1983

The Lost Tribe poster
4.0

Anthropologist Max Scarry mysteriously disappears while doing excavation/research of a lost New Zealand tribe on a remote island. His wife and his twin brother Edward are clueless as to what could have happened, a situation complicated by their city's police suspecting that one of the brothers murdered a local prostitute who was found with a strange tribal charm on her body matching one found in Max's abandoned hut. What most certainly isn't helping matters is the strange behavior of Max's daughter as she seems to have visions beyond possibility, warnings of a supernatural threat and her uncle's fate - and she's the film's narrator, to boot. Edward decides to go to the island to find out exactly what happened, but the deeper he goes into the mystery the more perilous and unknowable his world becomes, leading towards a shocking fate that raises more questions than it answers. (cont. http://view-from-the-paperhouse.blogspot.de/2014/10/the-threat-of-ancient-echoes-lost-tribe.html)

The Lost Tribe

1983

Cody: Bad Love poster
8.0

Cody’s investigation of an art theft leads him to Claudia who works at an art gallery where the certificate of the stolen painting is held. His judgement may be clouded when he discovers the federal police suspect Claudia of smuggling the paintings.

Cody: Bad Love

1994

Dangerous Orphans poster
6.0

Three orphaned boys - O'Malley, Rossi and Moir - become blood brothers. When they grow up, they plot revenge on the crooks who got away with shooting O'Malley's father. The crooks are doing very nicely importing heroin and laundering money. The boys begin by killing one of the crooks, stealing his indentification and cleaning out the guy's Swiss bank account. But their revenge does not stop here... And the American end of the operation is getting very curious.

Dangerous Orphans

1985

No artwork available
7.0

A caustically funny account of addict monomania.

The Shirt

2000

Safe House poster
6.2

Safe House is the story of a struggle for survival in an unfamiliar and threatening world, based on the true life experience of a woman in the early days of the witness protection programme in New Zealand. TV Movie

Safe House

2012