“It would suck to be a ghost,” is a note I took while watching writer/director Daniel Montgomery’s directorial debut feature film The Jessica Cabin. Watching it reminded me of the sense of ennui surrounding some of the earlier scenes of Beetlejuice, where a ghost is stuck in a single location, watching the living world pass them by. At least in Beetlejuice, they had a large, Victorian-style home to ghost around in…but what if it were smaller? And living people continued to come into and out of your life, on a renter’s basis?

The film opens as boyfriends Nicky (Chase Williamson) and Preston (Will Tranfo) arrive at their Airbnb for a weekend away from life. It’s a cute little home in the middle of nowhere that belongs to a woman who gives each of her Airbnbs a name. This one is The Jessica and pictures of Jessica adorn the furniture and the walls. Unbeknownst to them, the cabin has a history of people turning up dead, including the titular Jessica.

As they go about their routines in the house, two of the said dead people watch them in boredom. Besties Jackson (Daniel Montgomery) and Taylor (Riley Rose Critchlow) died in the house at some point, and they casually observe Nicky and Preston as they sleep, shower, fuck, get a late night drink of the fridge and more. Taylor immediately doesn’t like Preston as they watch the two interacting. Jackson replies that Nicky reminds him of Greg.

“Jackson, everyone reminds you of Greg,” Taylor responds.

It’s the start of an infatuation and Jackson follows Nicky everywhere he goes, at one point trying to lean against Nicky while he cooks, as if trying to savor a long lost feeling. The infatuation grows very quickly, helped along by the fact that neither of them likes Preston…a fact that is exasperated when Taylor catches Preston taking a photo of his dick and sending it to somebody that isn’t Nicky.

“Jackson, I think I’m going to have to kill this guy,” they say simply and apathetically.

What follows is a funny-sad movie about the living and the ghosts that love them, as Nicky navigates an unfamiliar world inhabited by ghosts. Clocking in at just under 75 minutes, The Jessica Cabin is a breezy, sometimes purposefully silly look at loneliness and the desire for connection. It uses very little special effects (though some of the Poltergeist-y moments are genuinely entertaining) and instead focuses on the characters.

The dialogue zings and moves from mournful restlessness to the ridiculousness of being a ghost. While genuinely funny in spots, The Jessica Cabin made me melancholic as it charted the lives of Jackson, Taylor and, to some degree, Jessica. The idea of wasted potential hangs over the small cast of characters as they watch life float by just outside of their reach. It all reaches a crescendo with a scene of Mrs. Norris (Melinda DeKay), the owner of the Airbnb, that legitimately made me misty-eyed.

With a single, small location and just a host of characters, The Jessica Cabin succeeds because of the chemistry between all of the actors. Jackson and Taylor feel like real life besties who’re now trapped in some ouroboros of an afterlife, afraid to let go because of the unknown and the fascination and unseen flirtation between Jackson and Nicky ricochets between earnestness and creepiness. It all comes together to create a wistful and surreal look at disconnection and loneliness that truly moved me and made me laugh. A lowkey highlight for this spooky season.