Why did Hooper leave the film?

He filmed most of EATEN ALIVE, but left after a while

According to William Finley, one of the actors in Eaten Alive and a long-time friend of the director, Hooper is generally very shy and has trouble dealing with people, which probably accounts for his erratic career. If he had a problem with the producer or the crew or a particular actor he would just walk off set and go back to his hotel. Since Eaten Alive had a very short shooting schedule the film had to continue, so in his absence the cameraman Robert Caramico and producer Samir Rustam would take over directing individual scenes.

From the information on the audio commentary and things I've picked up from other sites, Hooper did direct the end of the film (but not the shots of the big alligator splashing around in the water, which was shot later) but there are several major scenes that he didn't direct, most prominently the opening sequence with Buck and the prostitute, and the long scene where the female lead goes to a bar with the sheriff, which was shot by a completely different director brought in by Rustam when Hooper wouldn't return.

Most of the actors maintain that the shooting of Eaten Alive was a fairly dreadful experience where nobody seemed to have any idea what was going on.

As far as I'm aware, Hooper did direct The Mangler. I haven't heard anything about him quitting the film. It's possible that the special effects sequences were directed by another unit, which may have caused some confusion (like Spielberg directing the effects sequences for Poltergeist, which led many to believe that Spielberg directed the entire film).

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