Eric Fullerton's first video camera was a black-and-white surveillance camera his dad found in a dumpster behind at a shuttering local K-Mart and then gave to him. It didn't have working power or recording, so they built a power supply from parts they picked up at Radio Shack, attached a Nikon zoom lens and wired the camera to the family VCR.

Fullerton was 8 years old at the time. The year was 1986. The city was Huntsville, Ala., where his father Larry Fullerton worked as an electrical engineer and inventor of devices ranging from coin sorters to collision-prevention.

Inspired by that era’s vibrant fun movies, like “Back to the Future” and “Goonies,” Eric began shooting and editing video. And he never stopped. A fan of heavy-metal bands like Motley Crue, he became influenced by MTV, particularly rock-centric show “Headbangers Ball.” Later on, Fullerton grew up to make a living out of his interests, working on feature films ranging from low-budget (“Chainsaw Cheerleaders”) to Netflix streamers (2009 flick “Hunger”) and music videos for Southeastern artists (including Atlanta R&B singer Anthony David). Now 43, Fullerton pays the bills working in marketing as a video editor and motion graphic artist. He still resides in Huntsville, in the city’s northeast area. He grew up in a home off Mount Charron Road.

A young Eric Fullerton with his video camera. (Courtesy Eric Fullerton)

For decades, Fullerton has kept boxes and boxes of VHS and 8mm tapes chronicling his youth. In the summer of 2016, he began uploading some of these videos to a YouTube channel. “It was a place to show my family old videos and just something to laugh at,” he says. But then, random people started commenting on the videos and subscribing to the channel, titled Eric’s Home Movies. “I was a little weirded out, because I didn’t expect anyone to even come across them,” he says. He decided to embrace it and put together a very-’80s-synth-scored video-trailer explaining the channel.

Eric’s Home Movies is now home to more than 50 videos depicting Fullerton’s childhood. The videos have titles like “Metalhead Teens in a Record Store,” “My Computer Setup in 1988,” “A Trip To Burger King” and “My Cousin’s House Tour.” The content won’t make anyone forget “Citizen Kane” or “Moonlight.” It’s closer to “Wayne’s World” meets “Beavis and Butt-Head” meets “Heavy Metal Parking Lot.”

“It’s my nostalgic getaway,” Fullerton says. “I find immense enjoyment in watching other people’s home movies from the ’80s as well, so I think of it as a way to pay it forward.” Other than not being “too embarrassing,” Fullerton says he has no filter to what he posts to Eric’s Home Movies. “I still have a few videos that are set to private because they didn’t pass other people’s approval. I’m sitting on some gold right now, and hopefully one day they’ll let me post 'em.”

In 1988, after much begging to his parents, Fullerton received his first color camcorder. Consumer video editing software wasn’t really available until the late ’90s, so he had to edit everything by hand, using multiple VCRs. In the early ’90s he acquired an Amiga computer with a NewTek Video Toaster hardware/software combo that allowed for real-time effects and transitions. “But you still couldn’t actually edit video with it,” Fullerton says. Hence the charmingly lo-fi reverse effects, graphics and other Velcro-period magic on Eric’s Home Movies.

Longtime Huntsville residents will recognize long-gone haunts, like Sunburst Records and The Mill, in some of the videos. In addition to a young Fullerton, the vids feature childhood friends like Darrell Hazelrig, sometimes miming for homemade music videos for songs like Metallica thrasher “Battery.” The longhaired star of " Metalhead Teens in a Record Store," Larry Marsili, grew up to be a Huntsville attorney. Fullerton says another mullet-ed video pal, Patrick, grew up to work on big Hollywood movies but declines to give Patrick’s last name. Fullerton and Hazelrig, who also grew up to work in film, TV and video production, remain the best of friends.

"Before YouTube, our only audience was our parents and friends," Fullerton says. "So now they’re like 'Oh yeah, I remember this!'" Even sibling Lizz Shepherd, star of such videos as " My Sister LOVES Chocolate! (Lizz's Birthday 1989)" and now a mother of three residing in Madison. "She always seemed annoyed when I stuck the camera in her face," Fullerton says. "But now, 30 years later, she's enjoying the cringe factor of these videos." (Such as, “OMG my hair, what was I thinking?!?”)

With recent TV shows like “GLOW,” “The Americans” and of course “Stranger Things” mining the ’80s, it’s fascinating to watch the real deal on Eric’s Home Movies. If you grew up back then, the bulbous eyeglasses, dramatic haircuts, Whitesnake T-shirts and Nikki-Sixx-poster-plastered bedrooms will take you back.

The videos are also a fun trip back to a simpler time. "Growing up in Huntsville, I remember people out and about, doing stuff and talking to each other," Fullerton says. "It seems void of the social aspects these days. More staring at our phones and less interacting with the world. Walking around the mall, playing video games at the bowling alley, chatting about movies with people at Blockbuster. All of that is gone now."

A recent photo of Eric Fullerton, the Huntsville man behind the '80s-centric YouTube channel Eric's Home Movies. (Courtesy Eric Fullerton)

Fullerton estimates he has about 200 tapes total. He's uploaded them all to hard-drive but can't bring himself to part with the tapes, now kept in an air-conditioned storage unit. He meticulously labeled and noted the tapes, from the very one. Lately, Fullerton's increased the uploading of videos from once a month to once a week: " To be honest, the channel has never been so forefront in my mind as it is right now."

He plans to augment a 1989 video of he and Hazelrig going to a local McDonald’s with new footage of them visiting the same location together this year. He’s also sitting on ’80s Madison Square Mall footage. Also, in the vault, his home videos from the ’90s and beyond. “In the ’90s, I had a car, more friends, and moved into my first apartment,” Fullerton says. “No longer was I restricted to my parent’s house - a lot of the ’90s videos will be all over town and various parties.” Next stop: The ’90s Revival, Huntsville style.

In their youth, Fullerton and his friends built a UHF transmitter in hopes their homemade short films, music videos and quasi-documentaries would reach other eyes. “We wanted so badly to show our videos to people,” he says. “I don’t know if anyone ever watched, but then again, I was only able to broadcast to a range of two to three miles. Fast forward 30 years, now the chances are much higher for people to accidentally stumble upon my channel and see my movies.”

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