It nominally stars Dirk Bogarde (who only appears in the film's second half) and principally features a cast of seven juvenile actors, including Pamela Franklin, Phoebe Nicholls and Mark Lester, with popular British actress Yootha Joyce in a supporting role.

They secretly bury their mother in the back yard at night, and convert the garden shed into a shrine to her, where they periodically hold seances to communicate with her spirit.

The children make excuses for their mother's absence to their neighbours and teachers, claiming that the doctor has sent her to the seaside for her health, and they dismiss their abrasive housekeeper, Mrs. Quayle.

Some of the children suggest contacting their estranged father, but the idea is rejected by Elsa, who has been indoctrinated with her mother's bitter contempt for her shiftless ex-husband.

For the next six months, the children carry on an outwardly normal life, although conflict arises when Gerty innocently takes a ride on a stranger's motorbike.

Learning of Jiminee's ability to forge their mother's signature, Charlie convinces him to sign documents without his siblings' knowledge, and he further alienates the children when he dismantles their garden shrine.

Although Diana still refuses to see the truth, Elsa and Gerty correctly deduce that Charlie intends to sell the house, and after searching his room they discover that he has squandered virtually all of their mother's savings.

He at first tries to cover for himself but, confronted by the implacable Elsa, he reveals all, and furiously denounces their mother – he explains that she had led a dissolute life before she fell ill and turned to religion, that the children are in fact the illegitimate offspring of her many adulterous liaisons, and that none of them are his own.

Our Mother's House is the second in a loose trilogy of films in which Clayton explored themes of the occult and of children in isolated situations who are threatened by evil.

Ebert also particularly praised the performances of the juvenile cast: In the April 2014 edition of the BFI's Sight & Sound, Pasquale Iannone's article titled "Age of Innocence" examines the history of children in films, writing: