Created by Hammer Films in association with Cinema Arts International and ITC Entertainment, it consists of 13 hour-long episodes, originally broadcast on ITV.
These vary from witches, werewolves and ghosts to devil-worship and voodoo, but also include non-supernatural horror themes such as cannibalism, confinement and serial killers.
Film music composer David Winter (Jon Finch) lives with his actress wife Mary (Prunella Gee) in a secluded farmhouse.
Mary initially doesn't believe David's claims either but is soon convinced that Lucinda is real when the latter begins to harass the couple repeatedly with witchcraft.
Magazine journalist Ruth Cairns (Julia Foster) is assigned by her editor (Dinah Sheridan) to cover an unconventional weight-loss programme at the Chesterton clinic.
She enrols and there befriends Ben Faraday (Warren Clarke), also trying to lose weight, who is paradoxically advised by the program coach Mr Willis (James Cosmo) to binge eat and take certain pills.
Ruth and Andrew investigate and find that the corpses are being replaced by mannequins for burial, and that the funeral directors are secretly taking the dismembered carcasses to Chesterton Clinic.
Ruth gets permission from her editor to expose the racket and advance her career, and – using her doctor friend's help – is admitted to the clinic as a patient with a feigned diagnosis of peripheral vascular disease.
She is told that all of the guests are survivors of a well-known plane crash that occurred just over a year ago, and that they meet regularly at the mansion to celebrate and "remember those who died", this being their thirteenth reunion.
Mr Rayburn (James Laurenson) visits Shenley's office, saying he wishes to sell a desolate property named Lower Moat Manor through him.
Shenley revisits Lower Moat Manor, but finds that the house does not exist, and when he enters a phone booth to inform Lolly, the message comes up "why did you do it", smoke emits from the telephone and chokes him.
He is visited the next day by representatives from the organisation he hopes to sell it to, as James takes Nipper, the family's pet Rottweiler, for a walk to the cemetery.
William and Emma Peters (Nicholas Ball and Rachel Davies) move into a house with their young daughter Sophia, but are apparently unaware of its history.
Soon, strange happenings begin, with creepy noises, doors that shut and do not open, leaking gas pipes, the appearance of bloodstains on walls, and even the slaughter of Sophia's pet cat by an unknown force.
Jack, a wealthy elderly man, dies under mysterious circumstances, after which his nephew Graham (Leigh Lawson) arrives to claim the art collection his uncle bequeathed to him.
Graham opts to sell most of the collection, but his wife Sarah (Angela Bruce) finds an African sculpture (called a 'fetish') with knives stuck in it.
Graham's elder brother Mark (Michael Culver) inherits the bulk of their uncle's estate, including his country mansion and his money.
Following this, Graham's film director friend Phil likewise is accidentally killed on the set of a TV commercial, when an arrow from a crossbow hits him.
To save Sarah and himself, the remaining two people in the photograph, Graham goes to Heinz Hoffman (Marius Goring), his uncle's art dealer, who first told them about Charlie Boy at the mansion.
He returns home and starts a fire in the basement to burn it, but trips and falls onto Charlie Boy, is impaled on one of the knives protruding from it, and dies.
Martin, behind his store, runs shady experiments on captured wild animals to train them to become docile, thereby avoiding the need in future to cage them and make 'cageless' zoos.
The story ends with Chuck and Annie confined within their isolated house shouting desperately for help, and Martin trapped in his shop's basement—in each case, with no one to hear their screams.
Lawyer Tom Martin (Christopher Cazenove) and his wife Sarah (Celia Gregory) are heading to a country cottage for a holiday when their car breaks down in some remote Somerset woods.
Suspecting a serial killer at large, Inspector Clifford (Anthony Valentine) investigates the case and learns of author Natalie Bell (Suzanne Danielle), who is writing a book about an ancient Carpathian Countess who had murdered men the same way.
Martin and Janet Lewis, with their son David, are driving on holiday when they give a lift to a mysterious hitchhiker in the rain, his face concealed in a raincoat.
Janet wakes up in hospital unharmed with her son, and is told that Martin underwent emergency neck surgery and cannot talk for the time being.
Newly appointed morgue worker Edwyn Bord (Peter McEnery) becomes obsessed with the number 9, which is being often repeated to him in his everyday interactions with people and experiences.
Edwyn lives with his cranky-natured mother (Annie Dyson), with a pretty estranged tenant lady Stella (Georgina Hale) and her baby as their neighbour.
Edwyn finds that Dr Holt when alive wanted to sacrifice a baby and eat it to drive out the virus, prompted by voices in his head, but was stopped by the police.
[2] Having completed a high-definition restoration of the series, the UK's Network imprint released Hammer House of Horror for the first time on HD Blu-ray (Region B) in October 2017.