Wait, what? Halloween? I guess Carpenter had the grandiose idea of expanding the franchise to one movie released around Halloween that was kind of about Halloween...the holiday not the movies.
Mike did die in Halloween II. It was a good idea, one year, one horror movie, all under the same anthology franchise.
Except the audience, after two stellar slasher films wanted Mike, so best laid plans of mice and men and all that.
What we got instead of Mike was a movie that would have been a halfway decent stand alone end of the 70s horror film, one that was atmospheric, moody, and though it was too flawed to be big, it would have been a fair enough start to the franchise...it would have made a bit of money for the seasonal scare fair.
Except....it was called "Halloween III" and all the publicity in the world wouldn't have stopped the public from expecting Mike.
So, "robbed" would be the best phrase to describe how one feels whilst watching this film.
Even now after knowing what it was intended to be...still feel a little robbed. And I am a fan of anthology series, I feel it lets writers and directors tell unique little stories that wouldn't otherwise be made.
Still, Mike was a slasher and after Fred and Jason, you want to see him keep coming back until you vomit.