Windows updates keep failing

My Windows 8 machine has started to fail almost all updates from Windows updates.

I currently have this list of (important) updates that I cannot install:
* Windows8-RT-KB2855336-x64
* Windows8-RT-KB2862768-x64
* Windows8-RT-KB2862966-x64
* Windows8-RT-KB2871389-x64
* Windows8-RT-KB2871777-x64
* Windows8-RT-KB2876415-x64
* Windows8-RT-KB2879017-x64
* Windows8-RT-KB2883150-x64

Looking at the Windows Update history, I can see that the oldest one is the:
Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 8 for x64-based Systems (KB2846071)

It was first attempted to be installed in July - and since then a bunch of updates have failed (they have been attempted each day).

I have tried running the updates one by one, downloading them and installing them directly without using the Windows Update UI and I have tried the automatically Windows Update fix kit provided by Microsoft. None of this Works.

I have also tried to disable all non-MS services and startup items without luck, and also disabled all non-required MS services on top of that - still no luck.

The procedure is that the update is initialised, then starts installing, and at some point (usually around 50% in the progress bar), it completes and says "failed".

The error messages are useless - and does not provide any information about the real problem.

Oh, I also tried sfc /scannow - disabling Windows Defender etc.

Any ideas?

There are a few updates that pass - but they are mostly definition updates for Windows Defender.