Otherwise, The Grudge is what it is – a reminder of a time when the Japanese ruled the horror roost. But now it looks like the reign will be short, not long lived.
Question, how does an inferior American remake of a Japanese film signal the end of the Japanese new wave of horror films. How does it affect what comes out of Japan, which what your statement would seem to suggest. And aren't we actually talking about a renaissance of horror films of asian origin, not just Japan? None of it makes much sense to me.

I will admit that my knowledge of Japanese horror is limited, but they "ruled the horror roost" at one time? I've only seen Ringu, Ozumaki (sp?), and some others. Maybe there's some good imagry there, but the movies I've seen sucked!

Loved the Grudge (US version) and The Ring, though. Ringu was the single biggest waste of my time.

I liked it a lot. The deleted scenes didn't add too much but they definitely boost the ending to a new level.

I think that essentially, it means that Japanese (and Asian)
horror has become formulaic (disturbing imagery, creepy kid, girl with long hair, etc...) and is copying itself. Since remakes are also "copies" it sort of makes sense.

It started in Japan with Ringu in 1998. Then Audition, Uzumaki, Inugami, Kakashi, Kairo (Pulse), the Ju-on films, Dark Water, etc... the wave was essentially Japanese. The rest of Asia just followed suit using more or less the same genre conventions.